Loyalty programs ‘go digital’

Arguably, the first loyalty programs date back to 1896 with the creation of S&H Green Shield stamps which the publication, The Future of Business, reflects: “S&H Green Stamps, three times as many stamps as the US Post Office and by the 1960’s S&H was the largest purchaser of consumer products in the world.”

Loyalty points/rewards are freely given out by many credit cards, hotels, merchants, airlines, etc, but 70% of credit card users have points which are yet to be used. How many do you have? It has been estimated that, in 2017, the total value of unused rewards could have been worth as much as $100billion. This figure could well exceed that now. According to IHG Hotel & Resorts, nearly 72% of travellers would give up fast food, coffee or alcohol for a year to go on a dream vacation, yet 42% reported having unused hotel points. Meanwhile, a worthwhile habit which many of us have possibly never created is to audit our loyalty, which can help protect against someone else redeeming points…