The most popular loyalty programmes in South Africa – with a new number one

Market research firm BrandMapp and consultancy Truth have published the 2023/24 Loyalty Whitepaper, revealing which loyalty programmes are the most used in South Africa – with Checkers Xtra Savings now in the top spot.

The whitepaper looks are different economic segments, namely the ‘economically active’ group of South Africans – homes with a monthly household income of at least R10,000 – and the ‘mass market’ consumer – lower-income households earning less than R10,000 a month.

Economically active consumers only represent 30% of all adults but are 100% of the country’s tax-paying base and 85% of all consumer spending.

The most popular loyalty programmes change significantly across segments.

In the 2023/24 study, the group found that 76% of South Africans now use a loyalty programme in some capacity, up three percentage points from the 2022/23 survey.

Among respondents, around 30% indicated that they were using loyalty programmes more over the past year – echoing findings from analysts, debt councillors and the banking sector, where they pointed to South African’s becoming more reliant on different ways to counter the rising cost of living in South Africa.

For the economically active consumer, the most used loyalty programme list has remained virtually unchanged over the past year, with the only adjustment being quite significant: Checkers Xtra Savings, which placed second in 2022/23 has now jumped to first, marginally leading Clicks ClubCard (by 0.4%) as the most used loyalty programme.

“We also see Shoprite Xtra Savings progressing up two places into the top 10. Clicks held the most used programme title for four of our previous whitepapers in the Truth and BrandMapp Loyalty Whitepaper series, since 2016,” the group said.

There were no other changes in terms of top 10 positions and FNB eBucks remains the only non-retail loyalty programme within the top 10 most-used loyalty programmes.

Other loyalty brands which have improved their positioning within the top 25 most-used programmes by three or more places are Shell V+, Vodacom VodaBucks, Absa Rewards, and DStv Rewards.

Completely new to the top 25 is Builders+, positioned at 22nd.

Loyalty programmes are skewed along gender lines, with female membership generally outweighing male membership (except in rare cases, such as with Builders+).

Age also has an impact on loyalty programme usage, with most retail loyalty brands having a higher use by older consumers, apart from some retail brands which year-on-year have skewed towards a younger consumer.

Mass market consumers

Among mass-market consumers, the picture shifts.

Respondents seem to value non-retail brands in their most used loyalty programmes more than the wealthier consumers.

In the top 10 most-used programmes, there are three non-retail brands. Shoprite is the most used loyalty programme, and Capitec Live Better rose from third position last year to number two.

While FNB was the top-ranked banking reward app among the economically active population, Capitec ranks at the top among the mass market consumers, generally matching their clientele.

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