Marketing

Gaps happening between loyalty membership, consumer shopping behavior

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March 6, 2024

There are gaps between loyalty memberships and the desired behavioral shifts retailers hope to gain from loyalty programs, according to an Upside report.

The report is part one in a two-part series on loyalty programs and their impact on consumer behavior, according to a press release. It includes a survey of nearly 2,000 consumers.

"These survey findings indicate that today's loyalty offerings have become table stakes for customers, and retailers have an opportunity to do things differently to get more out of their existing investment," Alex Kinnier, Upside CEO and co-founder, said in the release.

The survey revealed more than half of consumers enrolled in a loyalty program base their shopping decisions — including where to shop, which items to purchase, and how much to buy — on those programs. Furthermore, nearly 40% of loyalty members indicated they would stop shopping at a specific location if the store terminated its loyalty program.

Additional findings include:

• As many as half (41-51%) of respondents do not factor in a loyalty program when choosing where to buy.
• More than a third (33-46%) of respondents have not increased their purchasing frequency since joining a loyalty program.
• Almost two-thirds (58-63%) stated that the absence of a loyalty program at a store would not affect their shopping habits.