2013’s 4 Biggest Loyalty Trends

Spurred by the advent of mobile wallets, specialized social media campaigns, branded mobile games and a host of new technologies – from NFC to Bluetooth LE, the loyalty space has exploded over the past few years with new ideas and possibilities.

Today, everyone from big-box retailers to the world’s most valuable brand is vying for a greater share of the loyatly space and striving to ignite new trends that set them apart as as a true innovator.

With this in mind, we’ve sought to collect the top trends in loyalty so far this year, so you can see what’s currently shaping payments and what could shape the year ahead.

4. Branded Mobile Wallet Adoption – Starbucks launched its Starbucks Mobile Pay mobile wallet in 2011, but despite its runaway success, other retailers have been slow to adopt the coffee chain’s winning formula. That is, until this year.

In just the last month, McDonald’s and Subway have revealed branded mobile wallet programs of their own. It’s a safe bet more big-name brands – in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) field and beyond – will follow suit.

3. Turning Away From Loyalty – For a long time, nearly every retailer had its own loyalty program, and loyalty card. With keychains everywhere overloaded, it initially seemed like Jewel-Osco and Shaw’s Supermarket were making a novel move by doing away with loyalty and building this savings into their everday prices.

But, with initial consumer reactions mixed, it will be interesting to see if this trend continues or if JCPenney went too far by bypassing loyalty.

2. Putting Usability Over New Technology – The rise, and some would say demise, of Google Wallet has provided plenty of fodder for pundits over the past year, but its tribulations say much about the changes in the loyalty space.

Google recently pivoted away from emphasizing technology, eliminating NFC gift and loyalty card support, and instead chose to adopt features consumers are already using, even if they were originally pioneered by other platforms. The move could provide valuable insight to the technologies looking to remove NFC from the space and win customers in 2013 and beyond.

1. … Want to know the biggest play in loyalty from the last year? Join us for PYMNTS.com’s 2013 Mobile Commerce Insider Series.

Our monthly update of all that’s critical in the mobile, payments, loyalty and commerce space is accompanied by 12 in-depth reports and 12 digital webinar discussion that provide insight into the industry’s top trends.

This January, Stephanie Swain senior vice president of retail and payments at Aimia will be joining us to talk about loyalty in a talk that can help prepare you and your company to break new ground in loyalty in 2014.

For insights you simply can’t find anywhere else, enroll in the Mobile Commerce Insider Series here