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The Loyalty Newswire
October 29, 2024

This week's Customer Loyalty and Digital Marketing News

From the Editor

The big news this week from our point of view is that the community of Certified Loyalty Marketing Professionals™ has crossed the 1K threshold. Following the workshops in London and Dubai last week, the number blew past the 1K benchmark and is closer to 1050.

Going within the numbers, it is important to share that we had the youngest participant in our recollection, a 19-year-old university student attending the Dubai workshop. At the same time, we had C-Level executives from notable brands in each of the workshops.

The wide range of experience represented in these workshops presents and interesting challenge – how to create curriculum that satisfies the needs of seasoned executives while also providing foundational material useful for people hungry to learn the basics of customer loyalty and loyalty marketing. We have created a solution and now have a content series that is created for the C-Suite. This is available for now only in our corporate training product. If you are interested in immersing your executive team in this advanced curriculum, contact us here.

We hope you join in our celebration of reaching this milestone at the Loyalty Academy™. Meanwhile, there is a lot of global news this week and we hope you enjoy all that we have gathered for you in this week’s Loyalty Newswire.

To leverage your reading time:

The Global News Roundup

Mi Rewards (Scotland) Launches to Drive Local Shopping

Led by Gloucester Business Improvement District (BID), Mi Rewards offers residents money off products and services, free experiences, and discounted gift cards. Users can earn points with both national brands and independent businesses.

National brands where Mi Rewards users can earn points in Gloucester include Wagamama, Waterstones, The Entertainer, Primark, Tesco, River Island, Marks & Spencer, and McDonalds. Those wishing to support independent business can earn points at The Candle Tree, Hetty's Place, Greek on The Docks, Gloucester Brewery, Chez Rose, Bizarre, and Bangkok Canteen.

Emily Gibbon, Gloucester BID manager, said the scheme is easy to use. "You simply register the cards you use to pay and that’s it, no remembering loyalty cards or having to ‘do’ anything extra at the till other than pay," she said. Mi Rewards is available online and via an app and is free to join.

Starbucks Launches its Starbucks® Rewards Loyalty Program in Guatemala

Starbucks, operated by Premium Restaurants of America in Guatemala, today announced the launch of Starbucks® Rewards, available starting October 25, 2024. The official press release quoted Sophia Quijada, Operations Leader at Starbucks Guatemala saying “The launch of Starbucks® Rewards in Guatemala reflects our commitment to continuously improve our customers’ experience through digital innovation,”.

This launch is part of Starbucks global strategy to enhance customer experience through digitization, providing faster and more convenient options, no matter where they are.

US CFFB Challenged Over Proposed Standards for Consumer Data Protection

As reported here, on October 22, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued its final rule implementing Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act (the “Final Rule” or the “Open Banking Rule”), granting consumers greater access rights to the data their financial institutions hold. The Final Rule was immediately met with criticism from industry groups.

On the same day that the CFPB issued the Final Rule, the Bank Policy Institute filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging aspects of the CFPB’s rulemaking under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The complaint asks the court to set aside the Final Rule in its entirety pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, and to enter an order permanently enjoining the CFPB from enforcing the Final Rule.

Are You Ready for Eight More Privacy Laws in 2025?

In 2025, eight additional states' comprehensive privacy laws will come into effect, further increasing the complexity of compliance. As JD Supra reports, by the end of next year, approximately 150 million Americans—43% of the U.S. population—will be covered by comprehensive state-level privacy regulations.

Most of the activity next year will take place in January, when five states (Iowa, Delaware, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and New Jersey) have privacy laws going into effect, with three more following later in the year.

McKinsey: State of consumer digital payments in 2024

The 9th annual McKinsey Digital Payments Survey explores preferences and behavior of European consumers alongside those of the United States. The report shares that although macro-level adoption is relatively similar in the United States and Europe, there are notable differences in consumer digital wallet preferences across both channel and region.

In addition to using more forms of digital payments more often, consumers’ buying journeys are increasingly starting with digital payments, for example with buy now, pay later (BNPL) platforms, and offer marketplaces. This shift to digital payments is becoming increasingly important as an origination point for shoppers’ decision making—and not merely a checkout option—and may signal the need for payment providers to think about how they can reach and engage consumers earlier in the shopping process.

Deloitte 2024 Consumer Loyalty Survey

For the fourth year in a row, Deloitte’s Consumer Loyalty Survey explores the changing consumer landscape and serves as a vital resource to help loyalty programs remain desirable and relevant. In this 2024 edition (CLMP™’s can find the paper in the Loyalty Academy™ VAULT), Deloitte expanded its annual Consumer Loyalty Survey to include consumers from the United Kingdom, India, and Brazil, reaching more than 9,800 consumers.

In addition to looking at global trends and broader behavioral shifts, this year’s survey also breaks down generation- and geography-specific insights to help brands create more personalized offerings to align with what consumers value most. There are many solid insights helpful to the evolution of brand loyalty programs in this paper.

Two Tier Grocery Pricing Under Attack in UK

UK consumer watchdog group Which? reported on the average price differences between Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco convenience stores and larger supermarkets for both loyalty members and non-members. They found that in Morrisons, the average price difference for More cardholders would have been 22% than for non-members.

The average price difference without a Tesco Clubcard was 10%, but much less - 5% - for Sainsbury’s customers without a Nectar card. This is because some offers that were branded as member-only Nectar prices in larger stores were available to everyone in Local stores, due to Sainsbury’s Locals not currently running loyalty discounts.

A related article contends that two tier pricing is prejudicial as some people are being excluded due to restrictions beyond their control, including minimum age requirements, having a UK residency or an address and needing an email address or an app.

The Secret to Better Rewards Flight Deals: International Frequent-Flier Programs

The Wall Street Journal is touting the idea that the best move consumers can make ahead of a big journey is to join the frequent flyer program of a non-U.S. airline. When you do the loyalty math, it seems that rewards flights often cost fewer points or miles with overseas carriers and climbing the status ladder can be easier than with U.S. counterparts.

Airline alliances sweeten the deal, facilitating the use of earned miles outside the country to domestic travel. To grow their customer base in the U.S., many non-American airlines are upping the incentive ante, offering discounts for those who book trips by transferring points from other credit cards, and sizable sign-up bonuses tied to their own credit cards.

Multiple Pay by Bank projects Launched or Underway

American Banker calls pay-by-bank one of the hottest trends in the payments industry. Also referred to as “account-to-account payments,” there are several large projects underway. As American Banker reports, Walmart, Dwolla and the card brands have all scheduled new A2A features that are set to go live in early 2025. This accelerates what had already been a trend toward supporting A2A transactions as payment firms look to attract merchants and consumers eager to avoid card fees during a period of high prices.

"There are a number of contributing key factors to the growth of pay-by-bank, including open banking and real-time payments adoption, and a lower-cost alternative to card payments," said Elisa Tavilla, director of debit payments at Javelin Strategy & Research. financial institutions with an outcome-centric partnership model. Read about it here.

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