Opinion by Dominik Zacharewicz, managing partner at Loyalty Point
At an estate, two shops sit just a few meters apart – but operate entirely different economic realities.
In the first, every person is treated like a stranger. Red discount tags cover the shelves, because without any way to identify returning customers, the shop must constantly “buy” every visit. Each morning begins with a new markdown campaign, and each evening ends with shrinking margins. Revenues slip, day after day, as the only lever left is to hand out yet another round of universal discounts that attract everyone and benefit no one.
Next door, the second shop plays a different game. Its loyalty program silently recognizes known customers the moment they enter. Seconds later, a traveler receives a personalized reminder: a voucher expiring today on products they have purchased during recent visits. No blanket promotions. No erosion of daily revenue. Just a precise, data‑driven nudge designed to increase conversion without sacrificing margin.
Both shops use promotions. Only one uses them strategically – and only one grows stronger with each customer who walks through the door.
Turning Customer Behavior into a Revenue Lever
Brands with well‑constructed loyalty programs compete on data, not just on price. They transform repeat visits from a paid media cost into a measurable habit – and, in doing so, build resilience against inflationary media markets and intensifying regional competition.
This shift from price‑based tactics to data‑driven engagement is not just strategic – it is financially quantifiable. Bain & Company’s classic analysis shows that even a modest 5% increase in customer retention can lift profits by 25–95%, underscoring how compounding behavior change becomes a revenue engine rather than a cost center. At the same time, the data gap is widening: more than one‑third of marketers report that the loss of third‑party cookies has already weakened their ability to target and measure campaigns, increasing their reliance on paid media when no first‑party identity layer exists. In high‑choice retail markets across CEE, where competition intensifies each quarter, brands without identified customers face a structural disadvantage – every visit must be reacquired through advertising or discounts, while those with loyalty programs convert repeat behavior into measurable, predictable revenue growth.
What moves the needle is a program that increases visit frequency, nudges basket value, and compounds Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). Done right, loyalty programs do all three. They create a permissioned identity layer, enable precise segmentation, and shift communication into owned channels – email, app, and push – where marginal costs are far lower than renting reach from platforms.
The economics are straightforward: more identified visits mean more relevant offers, higher conversion, and less margin lost to blanket discounting.
Personalization is key. When brands use first‑party data from their program, they can shift from mass promotions to targeted rewards. They reward the right behaviors in the right customer groups, instead of giving discounts to everyone. This protects margins while improving the customer experience, creating an advantage that grows over time and is hard for competitors to copy.
Proof in Market: Case Studies Across Categories
IKEA Family
Using machine‑learning to identify high‑potential members, IKEA Family increased purchase likelihood among the top 10% of its base by 4×, generated a 10% uplift in turnover, and improved digital campaign CTR by +55%. The lesson for executive teams is practical: when identification and analytics inform outreach, the same media budget buys more growth.
Lagardère Travel Retail
Operating across brands and locations, the program surpassed 700,000 members, achieved ~70% voucher redemption, and saw club members visit 2.5× more often than non‑members. In travel hubs – and by extension, any high‑choice environment – structured benefits and timely prompts beat price‑only tactics in creating predictable repeat traffic.
Decathlon
With 74% engagement among active participants and 10,000+ local campaigns orchestrated from a shared data spine, Decathlon shows how loyalty becomes an operating system for retail: local teams act on insight, not instinct, while headquarters safeguards brand, governance, and measurement.
Across these examples, the pattern is consistent: loyalty programs don’t just “reward” customers. They re‑engineer behavior while lowering reliance on paid media to generate the next visit.
Signals You’re Ready (and Why It Matters Now)
For decision-makers looking at Romania’s fast-changing consumer market, we see that loyalty program is not “nice to have”, but “must have”. The best results come when a few key signals line up: enough transactions to spot repeat patterns, a growing number of active users across your ecosystem, rising acquisition costs, and a need to better track return visits. When these factors come together, a loyalty program moves from being a marketing test to a tool that turns occasional visitors into repeat, measurable revenue.
You don’t need a full CDP from day one. Most brands already have the basics – transaction data that reveals real customer behavior. Start there and let richer profiles develop over time. Even in categories where customers shop infrequently, smart program design and attention to the customer lifecycle can still bring good returns.
How Winning Brands Approach Launching a Loyalty Program?
While a full implementation framework can easily become its own separate playbook, most successful brands tend to follow a simple, pragmatic launch pattern. Among our clients, the winning approach usually looks like this:
- Pilot – start small with a selected segment (often 10–20% of the base), test value propositions and validate behavioral uplift.
- Scale – roll out proven mechanics to broader audiences once the early data confirms impact.
- Optimize – continuously refine rewards, segmentation and communication using A/B testing and personalization.
This phased approach works across industries, though the exact shape depends on your category, the maturity of your data and CRM setup, and the tools already in place inside the organization.
If signals from your data, customer behavior, or organizational setup suggest you’re close to readiness, it can be worth taking a step back first. A high-level audit or strategic review helps clarify priorities, surface risks, and build a solid foundation before moving forward with more concrete program decisions.
Hidden Cost of Postponing a Decision on a Loyalty Program
Not having a loyalty program is not neutral – it is a structural tax on margin and growth. You keep renting the same audiences, operating in low‑signal environments, and ceding personalization to competitors with better first‑party data. The brands that win are codifying frequency and value growth through identified customers, owned reach, and measurable behavior change.
If you’re evaluating the right timing, readiness or potential ROI for your organization, now is the moment to explore what loyalty can unlock for you. Contact us or schedule a call with a Loyalty Point expert to understand how a high‑performing loyalty program could increase retention, improve CLV, and strengthen your margins.