The largest global loyalty programs

Context for the research

This slide was initially developed to help a loyalty program position itself in relation to other loyalty programs, particularly in the context of looking for strategic partnerships. It is a compilation of publicly available data. This is not the result of applied research, whether quantitative or qualitative. It is a starting point, not an end point, and we invite readers to contribute and provide feedback when they have information to share, so we can update the chart accordingly. The purpose of our effort is to disseminate the findings to the industry widely.

Notably, we limited our consideration to pure loyalty programs and did not investigate data on credit card-based loyalty programs or loyalty programs associated with subscription models.

Key Findings

What is a large global loyalty program?

We identified a threshold of 100 million members, with many loyalty programs falling below this threshold and a few exceeding it. Global loyalty programs with over 100 million members originate from three main industries: retail, airlines, and hospitality. This finding makes sense to us because of the characteristics of these industries: customers in these industries either shop frequently or have a high average spend, such as those related to travel. In both cases, it makes sense for customers to belong to a loyalty program and be engaged, as they can fully enjoy the benefits associated with the program. The only program not in the three aforementioned industries is McDonald's. McDonald’s rewards program is very simple; customers earn points when they purchase at McDonald’s, and then redeem those points against McDonald’s food. This simplicity, combined with the brand’s reputation, makes it a very popular program.

Which programs are the largest, and how are they different?

The most extensive programs we identified were Nike (300 million members) and H&M (200 million members). In both cases, we found that these programs offer a very rich value proposition and a consistently high level of customer experience.  For example, they both offer discounts, access to unique experiences, and early access to new releases, and they manage a community of customers. Nike, for example, offers access to health and wellness apps, and program members can participate in various events and races designed explicitly for the program. This level of engagement is far beyond a transactional relationship. Loyalty families

We identified “loyalty families” as brands collaborating to integrate their loyalty programs. For example, as you progress in status within the United Airlines Mileage Plus program, you get status in other programs from the same “family”, such as Marriott or Avis Budget. It is easier for members of these programs to “double dip” by staying in the family. And all these programs are pretty significant. Therefore, there is an advantage to working with programs of the same size or larger rather than smaller ones. A loyalty program with 100 million members will be more interested in partnering or integrating with another program with a similar number of members (or more) rather than with one with only 5 million members. Joining a loyalty family is an excellent advantage for a loyalty program, as it allows you to leverage multiple partners simultaneously.

We invite contributions to improve this research and update our findings. Again, this work is based on publicly available data at the time (late 2024).

To listen to the podcast dedicated to this subject, please go to https://letstalkloyalty.com/the-worlds-largest-loyalty-programs-653