Loyalty programs are one way that businesses can differentiate themselves in vertical markets. These programs reward customers for their repeat business and can be structured in a variety of ways to meet the needs of different verticals. For example, retail programs might offer discounts on future purchases, while healthcare loyalty programs might provide access to exclusive content or rewards for healthy behavior. Loyalty programs can be an important competitive advantage for businesses, and vertical markets are no exception. By understanding the unique needs of vertical market consumers, businesses can design loyalty programs that meet those needs and inspire loyalty among their customers.
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Data for today’s episode is provided by Mercator Advisory Group’s Report: How Payments Can Drive Better Loyalty and Rewards Programs
Top Loyalty Programs by Vertical Market:
- The average consumer belongs to 14.8 programs.
- 59% of consumers participate for supermarkets/grocery stores.
- 52% of consumers participate for pharmacies/drug stores.
- 49% of consumers participate for warehouses/club stores.
- 44% of consumers participate for online-only retailers.
- 42% of consumers participate for airlines/travel.
About Report
Mercator Advisory Group’s most recent report, How Payments Can Drive Better Loyalty and Rewards Programs, provides insight into the new technology driving increased personalization and better customer experiences with loyalty programs, and the important role that payment data can play.
Traditional loyalty programs were a source of data for merchants, better enabling them to identify the repeat customers and track the shopping patterns by rewarding their repeat purchases. The digital environment now gives us an abundance of data that is captured in many ways and in many places, moving these programs to become a use of data that provides a better understanding of customer behavior and the more targeted rewards.
Strategic operating decisions that merchants make in key payments areas including orchestration, tokenization, and service provider selection will affect the ability of the marketing team to mine the loyalty data from payments and has the potential to either enhance or detract from the effectiveness of the loyalty program.
“This is a highly relevant and impactful report,” stated Don Apgar, Director of the Merchant Services and Acquiring practice at Mercator Advisory Group, and author of the report. “We are following this among a number of growing trends that are making payments a frictionless and invisible part of our everyday activities.”
