Market of loyalty programs 2018

Last 12 months, ie the period between September 2017 and August 2018 abounds in dynamic changes on the loyalty program market. In this time, we watched the closing of loyalty programs, such as the SPAR loyalty card or the Toyota Bank Benefits Club, establishing new loyalty projects – Partnerplus PKS Polonus of Frisco Fruits Frisco.pl  or the revitalisation of ongoing programs, under which the Dr Irena Eris Holistic Club program turned into Pretty Zone, Miles&More changed the rules for calculating miles, Circle K changed the login rules to CircleK Extra Club by entering CircleK ID, and Payback acquired CUK Insurances, Kaufland and Allegro, losing the Energa and mBank partners. Finally it’s worth noting the transition of the Salad Story program organizer – Urban Fresh from loyalty through cards with stamps to a mobile application.

One of the most interesting events is the start of the GPDR, which resulted in a change in the regulations of most loyalty programs and continuation of the changes under which plastic ID cards are replaced by mobile applications, as for example in the Hebe loyalty card program, the Natura Drogeria Natura Club (Costa Coffee also officially announced to liquidate the plastic card and switch to a mobile application) or the possibility of identification at the cash desk via a telephone number as in the Super Pharm network under the LifeStyle program (this possibility existed for many years in other programs but had a kind of character of guerilla operations not recorded in the regulations, Super Pharm officially communicates this option to the participants). Other noteworthy events are the announcement of information via the Tesco Clubcard, that the program stops supporting its application in the version for Windows Phone, popularizing lotteries organized for the participants of the programs eg. the birthday lottery of the Natura Club organized by Drogerie Natura and finally the widespread use of communications related to the Winter Olympics in loyalty programs – for example counting points depending on the length of jumps made by Polish players or giving footballs for the World Football Cup by official sponsors and those, who at the occasion of the World Cup, decided to win something for themselves. The launch of mobile applications by McDonalds’s and KFC fast food chains is also important for the future of the market, which, through them, offer rebate coupons to participants and the possibility of placing an order outside the queue at the restaurant (KFC). Also on the less transparent market, ie the B2B market, the mobile trend is clearly visible. An example is the multipartner motivational program ElektroKlub addressed to a group of professional electricians, in which a mobile application has been launched to facilitate participation.

Preparing to summarize the events of the last 12 months on the market of loyalty programs, I review the received communication from the organizers. And because, as befits professionals, we participate in i360 in each of the loyalty programs, whose existence we are aware of, for 12 months we collect and archive tens of thousands of advertising messages sent to participants, such as e-mailings, text messages, post mailings and monthly communication reports of programs via websites and mobile applications. The analysis shows that the organizers of loyalty programs base their actions on the communication of offers of a price nature (the chain of drugstores leads the way) offering discounts and additional points (domain of petrol station and Payback programs) giving the communication a tailored character and this to the season, and public holidays or occasional holidays. After a few hours of analysis, I wonder how consumers find it. Or maybe they do not find each other and that’s what madness is about?