Non-Price Competition - Paperless Receipts and Immediate Gratification

Here are some examples of changes in the nature of non-price competition in the oligopolistic supermarket industry. The success of the My Waitrose card (now used by 3 million customers) has catapulted Waitrose into 2nd place for the largest retailer of hot tea and coffee drinks in the UK. They are now second only to McDonald's and some distance ahead of Costa, Starbucks and other well-known high street brands.

Waitrose started offering shoppers who signed up to its loyalty card, myWaitrose, a free cup of tea or coffee every day. They took the view that consumers respond more to immediate rewards / gratification and the power of the word "free" rather than building up interminable loyalty card points for use at some uncertain date in the future. Read: Waitrose Boss attacks meaningless loyalty cards

Booths is a regional food retailer looking to embrace mobile technology as a way of embedding consumer loyalty - they are pioneering paperless receipts through an app that keeps track of spending at the check-out.