Abstract:

In the United Kingdom, the retail loyalty card market has become highly developed within a very short space of time. Whilst several retailer schemes have existed for a number of years, it has been the relatively recent launch of loyalty card initiatives by the main food retailers that has had a significant impact on this market. Using data from RSL’s Strategic Initiatives Monitor (Simon), an independent monitor of loyalty card schemes, supplemented by qualitative follow-up interviews, this paper examines consumers’ usage of and attitudes towards loyalty card schemes and to what extent they are influencing store choice and in-store behaviour. The paper also briefly examines the changing role of research in the light of retailers’ increasing sophistication in sourcing and analysing data from their own loyalty card databases.