PlusFactor – Plumbing Plus

Strengthening Loyalty and Driving Sales in a Competitive Trade Market

A fully tailored rewards program helping Plumbing Plus boost customer retention, grow sales, and unlock valuable trade customer insights.

  • 44%

    % Sales Growth

  • 12

    % Customer Acquisition

The Challenge

Plumbing Plus operates as a cooperative of 38 independently owned stores, each with its own business priorities and approach to customer engagement. While this structure provides flexibility, it also presents challenges when competing with corporate rivals, which benefit from centralised marketing, unified loyalty offers, and stronger brand cohesion.

Historically, many Plumbing Plus store owners had run their own ad hoc rewards programs. These were time-consuming, expensive, and inconsistent in their effectiveness. Without a unified system, the group lacked a strategic way to:

  • Build lasting loyalty across their trade customer base.
  • Increase share of wallet in a market where plumbers regularly split their spend.
  • Attract new customers from competitors.
  • Deliver professional, brand-aligned communications and offers.
  • Respond quickly to shifts in market behaviour and customer demand.

The group needed a loyalty program that could support members individually while strengthening the Plumbing Plus brand collectively — all without burdening stores with additional setup or management costs.

plumbing plus plusfactor loyalty case study

The Objectives

  • Drive Sales
    Growth

    Lift overall transaction value and frequency across participating stores.

  • Strengthen Customer Relationships

    Reward loyalty and reinforce trust with flexible, high-impact rewards.

  • Support Group-Wide Alignment

    Deliver a consistent loyalty experience across all independent store owners.

The Solution

To help unify the group’s approach and maximise the impact of customer loyalty, 212F developed a fully tailored rewards program: PlusFactor. The program was designed to serve Plumbing Plus’s trade customer base while also meeting the unique operational needs of its independent store owners.

Key elements of the solution included:

  • Reward funding model: The program was built with no setup or ongoing management fees. Instead, a self-funded 3% redemption model ensured stores only paid when rewards were claimed, keeping engagement and ROI front of mind.

  • Flexible reward structure: Trade customers could earn points and redeem them for a wide range of premium merchandise, prepaid Visa cards, or access to the exclusive “Anything’s Possible” concierge experience. This helped stores offer aspirational rewards that made spending with Plumbing Plus more desirable.

  • Behaviour-driven levers: Store owners had the flexibility to adjust reward levels based on customer behaviour — allowing them to offer higher reward rates to high-value customers or activate targeted promotions when needed.

  • Centralised platform: 212F’s platform provided live performance tracking, segmentation, and communication tools, enabling store owners to manage the program efficiently without sacrificing personalisation.

  • Engaging launch and communication strategy: The program launched with full in-store support, including training workshops, printed collateral, and ongoing trade customer engagement through email and rep meetings.

By combining structure with agility, PlusFactor gave Plumbing Plus a unified, strategic loyalty solution that could be refined in real time based on results and customer response.

The Outcome

PlusFactor delivered measurable results across every key objective. With 99% program uptake, increased customer loyalty, and a significant boost in new business, the program quickly became a core competitive advantage for Plumbing Plus and its members.

Program Performance Highlights:

  • 44% increase in sales, exceeding the original 10% target
  • 40% improvement in customer churn, securing long-term retention
  • 12% new customer acquisition, more than double the initial goal
  • 99% uptake of invited customers, showing strong engagement from the trade base
  • Consistently positive feedback on high-value rewards and flexible redemption
  • Noticeable time savings for store owners, enabling a stronger focus on business growth

The program’s real-time adaptability also proved critical. Store owners ran double-points promotions, adjusted reward levels based on buying behaviour, and activated supplier-funded incentives — all contributing to stronger customer relationships and increased share of wallet.

As one store owner put it, “PlusFactor Rewards has given me my life back.”

plumbing plus plusfactor loyalty case study