The most popular retail loyalty category is…
A new survey reveals the retail category with the highest loyalty membership.
According to the “Upside Loyalty Membership & Behavior Report,” a survey of 1,900 consumers from cash back app Upside, respondents were most likely (74%) to belong to a grocery loyalty program.
On average, surveyed loyalty program members are part of 2.3 different grocery loyalty programs, and 82% said they are as or more engaged with their grocery loyalty program(s) today as they were in 2022.
About 51% of surveyed grocery loyalty program members are very likely or likely to shop at specific grocers based on whether they have a loyalty program, and about 39% are very likely or likely to stop shopping at a grocer if it got rid of a loyalty program.
The survey also examined the behavior of participants in dining and fuel loyalty programs. Highlights of findings in each category follow.
Dining
Three-in-10 respondents claimed membership in a dining loyalty program, which put the dining category at about the midpoint in terms of popularity of all 16 categories in the survey.
The average surveyed dining loyalty member participates in 4.1 programs overall, the highest number of all categories analyzed in the survey. Dining is the only category covered in the survey where members belong to more than three programs. Nine-in-10 (89%) surveyed dining loyalty members said they are as or more engaged with their dining loyalty program(s) today as they were in 2022.
About half (49%) of surveyed dining loyalty program members are very likely or likely to shop at specific restaurants based on whether they have a loyalty program, and about 42% are very likely or likely to stop patronizing a restaurant if it got rid of a loyalty program.
Fuel
Fuel was the third-most popular category for loyalty participation in the survey (following pharmacy) with 35% respondent penetration, with surveyed fuel loyalty members belonging to an average of 2.5 programs. Eighty-four percent of surveyed fuel loyalty members said they are as or more engaged with their dining loyalty program(s) today as they were in 2022.
About six-in-10 surveyed fuel loyalty program members are very likely or likely to shop at specific retailers based on whether they have a loyalty program, and about four-in-10 are very likely or likely to stop patronizing a fuel retailer if it got rid of a loyalty program.
Returns impact loyalty
Three-quarters of U.S. shoppers (72%) show greater loyalty to retailers that provide free returns, according to a recent survey from SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement. Nearly nine-in-10 (88%) of respondents have stopped shopping with a retailer because of a paid returns policy being introduced, while over half (54%) actively avoid retailers that charge to return items.