More data points supporting the importance of Loyalty as a Business (Laab)
We wrote about Loyalty as a Business one month ago and as the saying goes, “the more you focus on something, the more it grows.” Since we posted on this topic, we have seen others post statistics and metrics that support the premise that customer loyalty can have tangible impact for a business. We’ve also read research and press releases that provide additional evidence for those interested.
We will continue to report on these findings as they occur. Over time, we are hoping to assemble a comprehensive dataset that you can use for your benefit.
We share two noteworthy items in this post:
A new analysis by Airlines for America (A4A) – the industry trade group representing major U.S. carriers – reveals there are nearly 30 million U.S. airline credit card holders in the United States who rely on their airline credit cards to accrue loyalty points and more than 2.4 million travelers are using earned rewards to visit Florida, supporting 31,234 jobs in the state and delivering a state-wide economic impact of over $3.75 billion.
A4A conducted a member survey and used public data to estimate the prevalence of airline co-branded credit cards associated with frequent flyer programs (FFP) and their economic impact on tourism throughout the United States and specifically in Florida. Key findings include:
- Rewards earned from airline credit cards generated more than 2.4 million domestic visitors in Florida, supporting 31,234 jobs and over $3.75 billion in economic activity in 2022.
- Rewards earned from airline credit cards paid for 15 million domestic visitor trips that supported an economic impact of more than $23 billion in 2022.
- The payroll supported by visitor spending from card reward redemptions in 2022 was nearly $6.5 billion nationwide and just under $1.1 billion in Florida.
With the economic impact of frequent flyer programs on the Florida economy so clearly significant, the study questioned the future impact of the Credit Card Competition Act on FFP’s. This legislation was introduced by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) and could eliminate consumer choice over which network credit transactions are routed.
Opponents contend that the legislation would unnecessarily increase the cost associated with participating in credit card-based rewards programs, threatening the existence of not only the airline rewards points that enable millions of trips for Americans every year – but all credit card rewards programs.
Additionally, we read a valuable post from Loyalty Specialist Adam Posner on LinkedIn which chronicled financial results from ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) listed companies. Most of the information was released in July and August 2023 (with a few from earlier in the year).
You can read the entire post here, but we share these highlights for the time-starved among us:
- ACCENT Group - Contactable customers grew by 500,000 to 9.8 million customers, with loyalty program membership now more than 8.0 million across TAF, Skechers, Platypus, Hype DC, Glue and Merrell.
- MYER one (In the HY2023 results) - 7.0m Digitally contactable members (+11.4% YoY), 4.1m Active Members in last 12 months (+17.1% YoY), 73.5% Tag Rate
- Super Retail Group (Rebel, Supercheap Auto, BCF, Macpac) - Added over 1 million active club members in the past 12 months. (Active club members are those who purchased in the last 12 months). Active Club members 10.3million (Up >1 million). Club Member NPS = 67 (up 2)
- Club member % of sales 73% (up 3%)Wesfarmers - 9.0m+ Active Flybuys members, 3.7m+ Active Sister Club members. Sister Club has more than 8.3m total members. 1.1m+ Active PowerPass members. (Active members represent those with activity in the last 12 months.)
- Woolworths - Everyday Rewards - 750,000 additional Everyday Rewards members, reaching 14.5 million total members in F23 • >130 million Booster offers unlocked delivering an additional 40 billion points to members.
