United Arab Emirates Loyalty Market Size & Forecast by Spend Value Across 100+ KPIs by Program Type, Channel Mix, Sector, Embedded Loyalty Penetration, and Platform Spend Segmentation - Databook Q2 2026 Update

The loyalty market in United Arab Emirates is expected to grow by 15.1% annually, reaching US$432.3 million by 2026.

The loyalty market in the country has experienced robust growth during 2021-2025, achieving a CAGR of 16.3%. This upward trajectory is expected to continue, with the market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 14.1% from 2026 to 2030. By the end of 2030, the loyalty market is projected to expand from its 2025 value of US$375.6 million to approximately US$733.8 million.

Key Trends and Drivers

Retail loyalty is moving from points collection to a payments-led ecosystem engagement

• Majid Al Futtaim’s SHARE programme is becoming a broader payments-and-rewards platform rather than a traditional mall or grocery loyalty scheme. In 2025, Majid Al Futtaim reported that SHARE reached 10.3 million members and expanded through additional co-branded credit cards with Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Visa. The recent change is the deeper link between loyalty, co-branded cards, SHAREPay, Carrefour, malls, cinemas, leisure and dining under one customer engagement layer.
• UAE retailers are under pressure to retain high-frequency customers across grocery, malls, cinemas, leisure and digital channels, while banks are looking for spending-led card engagement. The ADIB-Majid Al Futtaim launch of Shariah-compliant SHARE covered cards in December 2025 shows how loyalty is being adapted for Islamic banking customers, not only conventional credit card users.
• This trend is likely to intensify as large UAE retail groups use loyalty programmes to connect payments, customer identity, store traffic, app engagement and cross-brand spend. Programmes with merchant scale and banking partners will be better positioned than stand-alone points schemes because they can influence both purchase frequency and payment choice.

Coalition-style loyalty is expanding through mobility, convenience and retail partnerships

• UAE loyalty competition is shifting toward partnership ecosystems that combine fuel, convenience retail, fashion, lifestyle and rewards redemption. ADNOC Distribution’s September 2025 collaboration with Landmark Group connected ADNOC Rewards with Shukran, creating a larger cross-earning and redemption network across mobility and retail. This is more recent and more targeted than older single-brand fuel loyalty models.
• Fuel retailers in the UAE are trying to increase non-fuel transactions, while large retail groups are using loyalty partnerships to access customers beyond malls and stores. ADNOC’s announcement linked the partnership to its 2028 strategic target of increasing non-fuel transactions, making loyalty a commercial tool for convenience retail growth rather than only a customer reward layer.
• Coalition-led loyalty is likely to strengthen in the UAE, especially where everyday mobility, grocery, convenience and lifestyle categories can be linked through apps and digital payment credentials. Smaller loyalty schemes may need partnerships to remain relevant, while larger ecosystems will compete on redemption breadth, instant earn capability and frequency of use.

Airline loyalty is being refreshed around premium redemption and tier value

• UAE airline loyalty programmes are becoming more active in protecting premium customers and improving redemption utility. Emirates Skywards introduced Classic Rewards and Upgrade Rewards for Premium Economy in September 2025, while Emirates Group’s 2025-26 annual report highlighted Skywards’ 25-year anniversary, expanded flydubai Classic Rewards access and Premium Economy redemption options.
• The driver is the UAE’s travel recovery and the need to keep frequent flyers engaged as premium cabins, stopover travel and regional leisure demand remain important for Dubai and Abu Dhabi carriers. Etihad Guest also added discounted Promo seat pricing for Gold, Platinum and Emerald members in April 2026, showing a sharper focus on high-tier retention rather than only miles accumulation.
• Travel loyalty will remain one of the most competitive parts of the UAE loyalty market because airline programmes sit at the intersection of tourism, co-branded cards, hotels, retail partners and airport experiences. The focus is expected to intensify around redemption flexibility, premium-tier benefits and partner earning, while less differentiated travel rewards may lose appeal among high-spending customers.

Subscription and wallet-linked loyalty is becoming more value-sensitive

• Paid loyalty in the UAE is moving from simple discount bundles to wider lifestyle subscriptions linked to rides, food, groceries, dining, home services and payments. Careem Plus remains a visible UAE example, and recent coverage in June 2026 reported a price increase from AED 19 to AED 29 per month from July 2026, indicating that subscription loyalty is entering a monetisation and value-testing phase.
• The underlying driver is the UAE’s high adoption of app-based services and digital payments. The Central Bank of the UAE’s 2025 annual report points to continued development of payments infrastructure, digital wallet operators, merchant acquiring platforms and payment aggregators, creating more room for loyalty offers to be attached directly to wallets, cards and in-app transactions.
• This trend is likely to intensify but become more selective. UAE consumers may accept paid loyalty when savings are visible across daily categories, but programmes will need to prove recurring value as subscription prices rise. Wallet-linked rewards, card-linked offers and app-based personalisation will become more important than broad discounting because merchants will want measurable retention rather than one-off promotional usage.

Competitive Landscape

Competition is expected to intensify over the next 2-4 years as loyalty becomes more closely tied to UAE payment infrastructure, digital wallets, card-linked offers and app-based customer engagement. The Central Bank of the UAE’s 2025 annual report and Digital Dirham publications indicate continued policy focus on digital payments and financial infrastructure, which should support more payment-linked loyalty models. Large ecosystems with frequent-use categories and strong redemption networks are likely to gain a share of customer attention, while smaller programmes may need partnerships to stay relevant.

Current State of the Market

• The UAE loyalty market is highly competitive and increasingly ecosystem-led. Retail groups, fuel and convenience operators, airlines, telecom-linked rewards apps, banks, payment networks, and subscription platforms are competing to own repeat customer interactions. Recent activity shows a shift from stand-alone points programmes toward card-linked, app-based and coalition-style rewards. Majid Al Futtaim’s SHARE continues to anchor retail and mall-linked loyalty, while ADNOC Rewards is expanding beyond fuel into mobility and convenience partnerships. Airline programmes remain influential because Emirates Skywards and Etihad Guest connect loyalty with travel, cards, retail partners and premium customer retention.

Key Players and New Entrants

• The competitive field is led by Majid Al Futtaim’s SHARE, ADNOC Rewards, Landmark Group’s Shukran, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, e& UAE’s Smiles, Careem Plus, Dubai Holding’s Tickit, and Aldar’s Darna. Banks and card networks are becoming more visible through co-branded rewards, including Majid Al Futtaim’s SHARE card collaborations and ADNOC Rewards’ card-linked partnership with FAB and Mastercard. The market is not dominated by one format; instead, competition is split across retail frequency, mobility spend, travel loyalty, lifestyle subscriptions and payment-linked rewards.

Recent Launches, Partnerships, Mergers, and Acquisitions

• Recent competitive moves are concentrated in partnerships rather than consolidation. ADNOC Distribution and Landmark Group launched a 2025 loyalty partnership allowing point conversion and cross-redemption between ADNOC Rewards and Shukran. e& UAE’s Smiles partnered with Etihad Guest in August 2025 to enable rewards exchange between telecom-led lifestyle rewards and airline loyalty. Emirates Skywards added Premium Economy flight rewards in 2025, while Etihad Guest introduced discount pricing for premium members in 2026. Careem Plus’ 2026 price increase also signals that subscription loyalty is being tested on recurring value, not only on customer acquisition.

This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the loyalty industry in United Arab Emirates, offering comprehensive coverage of loyalty schemes, loyalty platforms, program structures, and market dynamics. It covers more than 100 KPIs, including loyalty spend value, breakage rate, penetration rate, program segmentation, and channel-level adoption.

The report provides in-depth segmentation across the loyalty ecosystem, capturing loyalty spend value and breaking it down by core market dimensions. It classifies loyalty activity by program models (such as points, cashback, tiered, subscription, coalition, and gamified formats), membership structures, and execution channels (in-store, online, and mobile app), alongside embedded loyalty use cases integrated into payments, commerce, and platform ecosystems. The analysis further segments the market by industry verticals and assesses technology enablement, including AI-driven personalisation and emerging blockchain-led program mechanics. In addition, the dataset captures consumer demographics, enrolment pathways, and key program economics such as value accumulation, redemption, and breakage. Collectively, these datasets provide a comprehensive and quantifiable view of market size, structure, engagement behaviour, and value realisation dynamics within the loyalty market.

The research methodology is based on industry best practices. Its unbiased analysis leverages a proprietary analytics platform to offer a detailed view of emerging business and investment market opportunities.

Report Scope

This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the loyalty market in United Arab Emirates, with comprehensive coverage across retail-sector context, loyalty spend dynamics, and loyalty platform economics. Below is a summary of key market segments:

United Arab Emirates Retail Sector Market Context

• United Arab Emirates Retail Industry Market Size, 2021-2030
• United Arab Emirates Ecommerce Market Size, 2021-2030
• United Arab Emirates POS Market Size Trend Analysis, 2021-2030

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Spend Market Size and Growth Dynamics

• United Arab Emirates Loyalty Spend Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics, 2021-2030
• United Arab Emirates Loyalty Spend on Schemes by Value Accumulated and Value Redemption Rate, 2025
• United Arab Emirates Loyalty Spend Share by Functional Domains, 2021-2030
• United Arab Emirates Loyalty Spend by Loyalty Schemes, 2021-2030
• United Arab Emirates Loyalty Spend by Loyalty Platforms, 2021-2030

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Loyalty Program Type

• Point-based Loyalty Program
• Tiered Loyalty Program
• Mission-driven Loyalty Program
• Spend-based Loyalty Program
• Gaming Loyalty Program
• Free Perks Loyalty Program
• Subscription Loyalty Program
• Community Loyalty Program
• Refer a Friend Loyalty Program
• Paid Loyalty Program
• Cashback Loyalty Program

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Channel

• In-Store
• Online
• Mobile

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Business Model

• Seller Driven
• Payment Instrument Driven
• Other Segment

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Key Sectors

• Retail
• Financial Services
• Healthcare & Wellness
• Restaurants & Food Delivery
• Travel & Hospitality (Cabs, Hotels, Airlines)
• Telecoms
• Media & Entertainment
• Other

Sector × Channel Views: Loyalty Schemes Spend by Key Sectors and Channels

• Online Loyalty Spend by Sector, 2021-2030
• In-store Loyalty Spend by Sector, 2021-2030
• Mobile App Loyalty Spend by Sector, 2021-2030

United Arab Emirates Retail Sector Deep-Dive: Loyalty Schemes Spend by Retail Segment

• Diversified Retailers
• Department Stores
• Specialty Stores
• Supermarket and Convenience Store
• Other

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Accessibility

• Card Based Access
• Digital Access

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Consumer Type

• B2B Consumers
• B2C Consumers

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Membership Type

• Free
• Free + Premium
• Premium

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Spend Split by Embedded vs. Non-Embedded Loyalty

• Embedded Loyalty Programs
• Non-Embedded Loyalty Programs

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Spend Split by Use of AI / Blockchain

• AI Driven Loyalty Program
• Blockchain Driven Loyalty Program

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Platform Spend Segmentation by Software Use Case

• Analytics and AI Driven
• Management Platform

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Platform Spend Segmentation by Vendor / Solution Partner

• In-house
• Third-Party Vendor

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Platform Spend Segmentation by Deployment

• Cloud
• On-Premise

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Platform Spend Segmentation by Offering

• Software
• Services
• Custom Built Platform vs. Off the Shelf Platform

United Arab Emirates Consumer Demographics & Behaviour (Loyalty Spend Share), 2025

• Age Group
• Income Level
• Gender

United Arab Emirates Loyalty Program KPIs, Behavioral Metrics & Embedded, 2025

• Loyalty Program Penetration (% of Retail Sales under Loyalty)
• Primary Loyalty Motivation Split Analysis
• Loyalty Program Breakage Rate Analysis
• Loyalty Program Enrollment Channel Mix Analysis
• Embedded Loyalty Penetration by Channel

Reasons to Buy

• Comprehensive Loyalty Market Intelligence: Gain a complete view of the loyalty market by quantifying total loyalty spend value and its composition across loyalty schemes and loyalty platforms. The databook also includes retail context indicators to help benchmark market scale, structure, maturity, and growth dynamics. This enables users to understand not only the size of the opportunity, but also how loyalty value is distributed across the broader ecosystem.
• Granular Loyalty Spend and Program Type Coverage: Analyze loyalty spend across a wide range of loyalty schemes and platform-led models, supported by structured segmentation across key program types. Coverage includes point-based, tiered, cashback, subscription, community, gaming, mission-driven, paid, and referral-led formats. This helps identify which loyalty models are gaining traction and how program structures are evolving across markets.
• Channel, Sector, and Execution-Level Insights: Evaluate how loyalty spend is distributed across in-store, online, and mobile channels, with further visibility across major sectors such as Retail, Financial Services, Healthcare & Wellness, Restaurants & Food Delivery, Travel & Hospitality, Telecoms, and Media & Entertainment. Dedicated sector × channel views help users compare execution models and assess where loyalty engagement is strongest across physical, digital, and mobile environments.
• Program Structure, Participation, and Embedded Loyalty Analysis: Understand how loyalty schemes differ by business model, accessibility, consumer type, and membership format. The dataset covers seller-driven vs. payment-instrument-driven models, card-based vs. digital programs, B2B vs. B2C participation, and free, premium, and free+premium membership types. It also tracks embedded vs. non-embedded loyalty and emerging mechanisms, including AI-driven and blockchain-driven loyalty spend where captured.
• Loyalty Platform Spend and Vendor Benchmarking: Benchmark loyalty platform economics across software use cases, partner models, deployment choices, and offering mix. Coverage includes analytics/AI-driven platforms, loyalty management platforms, in-house vs. third-party solutions, cloud vs. on-premise deployment, and software vs. services models. The dataset also supports comparison of custom-built and off-the-shelf loyalty platform approaches.
• Consumer, KPI, and Decision-Ready Databook Lens: Access loyalty spend share by age, income, and gender, alongside decision-critical program KPIs such as loyalty penetration, primary motivation split, breakage rate, enrollment channel mix, and embedded loyalty penetration by channel. With historical and forecast coverage through 2030 and 100+ KPIs, the databook is designed for direct use in market models, strategic planning, competitive benchmarking, and executive presentations.