Foxtrot Membership

Foxtrot brought together the convenience of a neighborhood market with the feel of a café. Its stores offered everything from coffee and prepared food to groceries, wine, and everyday essentials. Customers could also shop online through Foxtrot’s website or mobile app, with options for pickup or delivery.

As the business grew, so did the ways people shopped with Foxtrot. Some stopped in for their morning coffee, others picked up lunch, browsed the shelves, or ordered groceries for delivery. But the existing loyalty program, Perks, hadn’t kept pace. It was built around a simple transactional model: one tier, a handful of rewards, and little recognition of how or how often someone shopped.

We saw an opportunity to rethink what loyalty could look like. Customer data showed that people who engaged with Foxtrot across multiple channels tended to shop more frequently and spend more. There was an opportunity to build on that behavior, giving customers more reasons to explore the brand and come back.

We wanted Membership to be about more than earning rewards. The idea was to bring together a community of people who shared a love of food and discovery, with more ways to enjoy everything Foxtrot had to offer.

Over time, that could mean exclusive events, tastings, and other opportunities for members to connect. The initial program laid the groundwork for that vision, starting with everyday benefits, special pricing, and early access to select products that made shopping more rewarding and gave customers more reasons to come back.

Membership was designed to offer something for every kind of Foxtrot shopper. With two tiers, customers could enjoy the benefits of being a Member without having to meet a spending threshold, while those who shopped more frequently had more to unlock.

Once enrolled, everyone started as a Member, with benefits like a free monthly café drink and early access to select products. Spending $100 or more in a calendar month unlocked Member+ for the following month, adding exclusive pricing and other benefits. To maintain Member+ status, customers needed to meet the same spend threshold each month.

The result was a program that felt accessible from the start, with added value for customers who made Foxtrot part of their regular routine.

We saw the app as the best place to bring the Membership experience together. Foxtrot already had a strong mobile shopping experience, so increasing app adoption gave us an opportunity to build on something customers knew and enjoyed, while encouraging them to explore more of what the brand had to offer.

The app could connect shopping, membership benefits, and account activity in one place, making it easier to introduce customers to products, services, and experiences across Foxtrot. The challenge was creating natural ways for customers to move from the store or website into the app, rather than expecting everyone to make that jump at once.

We created simple ways for customers to get started with Membership while shopping in-store. Scanning a QR code on an iPhone opened an App Clip, giving customers a lightweight way to create an account without downloading the full app. Android users were directed to a streamlined, web-based signup flow instead.

Both paths offered a welcome gift for creating an account, giving shoppers an immediate reason to take that first step. It was a way to turn an in-store visit into an introduction to Foxtrot’s digital experience, without asking customers to commit to downloading the app right away.

We introduced a dedicated Membership page to help website visitors understand the program and what they could get out of it. Alongside an overview of the benefits, a $10 discount on their first online order gave them an added incentive to try Foxtrot.

On mobile, a direct link took customers to the app store. On desktop, a QR code made it easy to pick up where they left off on their phone.

We wanted non-members to see hints of what Membership had to offer as they explored the app. Early-access labels, dimmed products with lock icons, and a dedicated Membership aisle surfaced exclusive benefits throughout the shopping experience.

The locked products were especially intentional. By making certain items visible but unavailable, we gave customers a glimpse of what they could unlock as members and a reason to find out more. Rather than relying on a single promotion, we made the value of joining visible as customers browsed.

The dedicated Membership tab gave customers a place to learn about the program, explore its benefits, and understand how to join.

For customers who hadn’t yet become eligible, a persistent banner within the tab explained that their first pickup or delivery order was the next step toward unlocking Membership. It kept the next step clear for anyone exploring the program, without interrupting the rest of the shopping experience.

Once customers completed a qualifying order, we used email and push notifications to invite them back into the app to unlock Membership. From there, they could visit the Membership tab and complete the process.

Rather than automatically enrolling customers, we introduced a swipe-to-unlock interaction. The gesture added a little positive friction, acknowledging the step customers had taken to become eligible and making entry into the program feel more deliberate. It turned what could have been a routine account update into a small moment worth celebrating.

We wanted Membership to give customers reasons to keep coming back. The Membership aisle brought together new arrivals and limited-edition finds, with products rotating regularly to give Members something new to discover.

A free café drink each month gave customers another reason to stop by, whether they were already visiting a store or making a special trip. It was a simple benefit that brought the digital and in-store experiences together.

The Membership card and payment screen made that relationship feel present throughout the experience, giving customers a familiar way to see their status and access their benefits.

Membership helped bring more customers into Foxtrot’s digital ecosystem and encouraged more frequent engagement across the business.

• 701 new accounts in the first month through the App Clip and free gift promotion across 21 stores
• 45% placed a second order, showing early signs of repeat engagement
• 7 orders per month on average among Member+ customers, 2–3x the frequency of customers in the former Perks program
• $155 in average monthly spend among Member+ customers, well above spending levels in the former program
• 34% growth in loyalty program revenue in the first six months after launch, compared with the former program