Some 73% of South Africans use loyalty programmes consistently, and they subscribe to more than nine on average, a new survey shows. This has increased almost threefold since 2014, when South Africans subscribed to 3.6 loyalty programmes on average.
The survey, the Truth & BrandMapp Loyalty Whitepaper, tracks the loyalty habits of more than 33 000 South African adults. It focused on consumers with a gross monthly household income of R10 000 or more.
In 2015, it found that 67% of economically active South Africans used loyalty programmes. This peaked at 79% in 2017 but has not tapered off dramatically since.
Clicks ClubCard was the most-used loyalty programme in South Africa for the fourth year since the survey began in 2015. Some 79% of South African consumers who use loyalty programmes claim to use the Clicks ClubCard programme.
In financial services, the most-used loyalty programme is FNB's eBucks. The Spur Family Card is the most popular in the restaurants sector and Legacy Lifestyle tops the travel industry's rewards programmes.
Discovery Vitality and Standard Bank UCount were rated as the most indispensable to their members.
The only loyalty brands where younger customers use programmes more than older customers were The Foschini Group Rewards, Shoprite Xtra Savings, Capitec Live Better, Vodacom Vodabucks and Ster-Kinekor SK Club.
The consultancy group Truth also found that lower-income consumers used loyalty programmes more.
This year, it incorporated the results of a parallel loyalty study by MoyaApp, which was done among consumers with a household income of R10 000 or less. Some 9 000 people took part in that survey.
That study found that 82% of those consumers use loyalty programmes consistently, and that benefits of these programmes influenced their choice of retailers, banks and other service providers.
The Shoprite Xtra Savings is the most used loyalty programme for that income segment, followed by Pick n Pay Smart Shopper. The most used financial services brand is Capitec Live Better, a relatively new loyalty offering in the South African market.
"South Africans do change their behaviour due to loyalty programmes," wrote Truth in the report.
It said that these programmes have changed where people shop, the products they buy, the garages they drive to in order to fuel their cars and which bank will get most of their money, among other things. Some customers want to build up points for bigger rewards; others want to be rewarded instantly. So, they swipe, tap and log in here and there for both. But cash rewards still remain the preferred option.