Spotlight: Program Management at PAR Retail

At PAR Retail, we know that it takes more than just a loyalty program to create loyal customers. From digital customer experiences to payments, tobacco loyalty programs and so much more, convenience and fuel retailers are tasked with a lot.

What sets PAR Retail apart from others is its Program Management Team. We sat down with PAR Retail’s Director of Technical Program Management, Alexa Ovens, to give you a behind-the-scenes look at how our loyalty experts ensure ongoing program support and optimization.

Q: Hey, Alexa! Thanks for taking the time to meet with us today. Before we dive in, can you share a little about yourself and your role at PAR Retail?

 A: Thanks for having me! I lead the technical program management team here at PAR Retail. We focus on supporting our customers and their programs on a day-to-day basis by offering strategic support for program design, configuring and implementing campaigns, and ultimately driving business outcomes. My favorite part of the role is getting to work with so many awesome retailers and their teams every day!  

Q: PAR Retail prides itself on having a relationship-first approach when launching programs to the market. Can you give us an overview of this approach? 

 A: We care deeply about creating programs that meet the needs of our customers and achieve their specific goals. For this reason, the technical program management team is involved in new program launches early on. We work with retailer teams to understand exactly what their program goals and requirements are in order to provide recommendations for how they can reach those outcomes using our products. During the onboarding phase, we meet with retailer teams on a regular cadence to ensure continuous alignment. After the program launches, the same PAR Retail team continues to be involved so there’s never a lapse in support.  

Q: From your perspective, how does this approach differ from other providers? 

 A: Other providers may provide a menu of capabilities for a new customer to select desired options, but we take a more customized approach. We first work to truly understand a retailer’s business and then tailor the program to actually drive them towards their goals. Achieving specific business outcomes is far more important to us than shiny features that don’t drive results. Additionally, our team has experience supporting all types of different programs, including ones from major oil, COCO, and independent brands, which allows us to make relevant recommendations depending on what outcomes a retailer is trying to achieve. 

Q: You mentioned business outcomes. Can you share some tangible examples of how your team has been able to drive business outcomes for our customers? 

A: We’ve had the opportunity to impact some incredible program growth over the years. Here are a few of my favorite highlights:  

• Increased active members per day by 262% within 10 months of launch for a regional chain  
• Drove a 154% YoY increase in loyalty transactions during 2023 for a regional chain  
• Increased monthly active users by 64% in the first 4 months of a program compared to the peak volume of the prior vendor for a regional chain  
• Supported 6x increase in monthly enrolled members 1.5 years into the program for a major oil retailer 

Q: On a regular basis, how can PAR Retail customers expect to interact with your team?

• A: The technical program management team has weekly program strategy and status meetings with every retailer. In this meeting, we typically discuss topics related to program health, upcoming campaigns, new platform functionality, and other project updates. Additionally, PAR Retail customers collaborate with technical program managers asynchronously throughout each week to test and launch new offers.  

Q: Most Convenience and Fuel retailers have a loyalty program, and switching providers isn’t for the faint of heart. How does your team help support the switch to PAR Retail? 

A: We’re involved in program launches every step of the way. As I mentioned earlier, understanding a retailer’s desired business outcomes is our first goal. From there, we’ll collaborate with the retailer team to define what worked well in their other program and how we can incorporate those learnings into the new program. We’ll also work to understand how PAR Retail functionalities can support their program better than the previous provider. Once we’ve aligned on how the program will work, the technical program management team will configure offers and program mechanics and support the retailer team in testing. We’ll also share best practices and help support member account and program currency migration activities. After launch, we keep a close eye on program performance compared to the previous provider to ensure we’re continuously improving and growing the program.  

Q: Customer loyalty is always evolving. How do you ensure that our customers’ programs are adapting to meet the needs of customers? 

A: The technical program management team works closely with PAR Retail’s product team to plan new platform capabilities that will drive outcomes. Additionally, we frequently discuss market feedback from our customers and bring suggestions and new feature requests to the product team for consideration. Lastly, we make a point to use other loyalty programs to stay up to date on trends.  

Alexa, thank you again for taking the time to share a glimpse into how you and your team support our retailers on a daily basis!  

Meet the Technical Program Management Team