Retail payments experts at Dojo, investigated how much customers will now have to pay for the same amount of drinks, and the potential impact on customer loyalty.
Coffee lovers have been left disappointed on social media after popular food and drink chain, Pret a Manger, announced they are discontinuing their £30 drinks subscription. Their subscription allowed consumers to pay £30 a month and redeem 5 free drinks per day, which could range from any hot or cold barista made drinks.
HOW MUCH WILL CONSUMERS NOW HAVE TO PAY?
Consumers who purchased the £30 a month Pret subscription under the previous policy could redeem up to 5 drinks a day, every day for 30 days[1]. A latte at Pret a Manger costs £4.05 and with this in mind, 5 lattes a day at full price across 30 days would cost customers £607.50, meaning that a £30 subscription was saving customers an estimated £577.50 a month.
Pret has now revised its subscription service: Customers will pay a reduced monthly fee of £10 (£5 for existing and new subscribers until 31 March 2025) to receive five drinks at 50% off each day. If customers wished to continue buying 5 drinks daily at Pret a Manger, it would now approximately cost £303.75 a month (in addition to the £5/ £10 subscription charge). A significant increase from the previous cost of £30 for subscribers.
PRET CUSTOMERS COULD NOW PAY UP TO £333.75 FOR COFFEE A MONTH, WHEN IT USED TO BE £30.
Users have taken to social media to share their disappointment with the recent news, with a TikTok from user @naiirnking, commenting “I don’t know how consumers will stay loyal after this”.
Retail payments experts at Dojo have shared why this could be detrimental to the popular coffee shop chain’s loyal customer base, commenting
“Our recent research found that only 2% of businesses have not had to cut costs in 2024, so it comes as no surprise for Pret A Manger to adjust their generous subscription offerings. As prices increase for both customers and brands, the importance of brand loyalty is highlighted: Without schemes where savings can be made, customers may look to shop elsewhere. With the strong brand-to-customer relationship built through their subscription service, it’s no surprise that the change in the benefits has caused Pret customers to take to social media to share their disappointment in the policy adjustment.
Independent businesses can take Pret’s well-loved subscription service as an example, by implementing a loyalty scheme of their own. These effective incentives can be used by independent businesses to build a strong community. As shown by Pret’s subscription service, consumers became extremely brand loyal, returning to the store up to five times a day.
It will be interesting to see if the potential £577.50 saving that Pret will now make per subscriber, could be snapped up by quick-thinking independent businesses, benefiting from brand defectors.”
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