Digital loyalty programme becomes crucial for struggling retailers. The value of credit card rewards will exceed $68 billion in 2023. In markets where QR payments are gaining traction, loyalty must follow.

A new study from Juniper Research has found that memberships of loyalty programmes with a digital element will increase from 37 billion in 2020 to 48 billion in 2023 globally.  

The new research, Digital Loyalty Programmes: Market Trends, Credit Cards & Retailer Readiness 2020-2025,highlights that as economic challenges remain for both consumers and retailers, digital loyalty will become a prized differentiator as retail markets become increasingly commoditised. The study recommended that retailers adopt digital loyalty solutions that enable them to leverage their abundant customer data to offer omnichannel loyalty experiences; combining offline and online touchpoints. This is critical for ‘bricks-and-mortar’ retailers, which will struggle to recover from revenue lost during lockdowns and increased off-to-online spend migration.

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QR & Apps Driving Value of Coupons Redeemed

The research also found that the total value of mobile coupons redeemed will grow from $51.6 billion in 2020 to $67.6 billion in 2023; driven by increasing QR and app coupon usage. QR coupons will continue to grow strongly in China as QR payments are dominant there, but QR coupon redemption in India and Africa will also grow three-to four-fold in the next 5 years as the appeal of QR widens.

Report author Susannah Hampton says: ‘Leveraging digital loyalty is all about understanding customer behaviour. In markets where QR payments are gaining traction, loyalty must follow, or it will lose out to more locally appropriate solutions. As such, digital loyalty platforms must be highly agile and channel-agnostic’.

Credit Card Reward Value Growth Driven by the US & China

The research estimates that the value of credit card rewards will exceed $68 billion in 2023, driven by increasing competition between providers and the ability to link spending to existing loyalty ecosystems. The US is expected to remain the largest market for corporate card rewards over the next 5 years, despite a 2020 COVID-related dip, as businesses look for ways to optimise cashflow and harmonise corporate spending.