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 Q1 2026 Update

The loyalty market in United Arab Emirates is expected to grow by 14.5% annually, reaching US$372.5 million by 2026.

The loyalty market in the country has experienced robust growth during 2021-2025, achieving a CAGR of 16.6%. This upward trajectory is expected to continue, with the market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 12.3% from 2026 to 2030. By the end of 2030, the loyalty market is projected to expand from its 2025 value of US$325.2 million to approximately US$592.4 million.

Key Trends and Drivers

• Embed Loyalty into Everyday Payment and Mobility Flows
• Loyalty in the UAE is increasingly designed to sit inside routine transactions rather than as a standalone rewards layer. Points earning and redemption are being tied directly to fuel purchases, convenience retail, transit, and card or wallet payments. For example, ADNOC Distribution integrates ADNOC Rewards across fuel, convenience retail, and car services, with recent extensions via co-branded payment products enabling earn-and-burn within the same flow.
• High-frequency spend categories such as fuel, groceries, and transit dominate daily consumer interactions in the UAE. Retailers and ecosystem players are reducing friction by attaching loyalty to payment moments that already have high engagement, aligning with broader loyalty-sector shifts toward embedded rewards.
• Embedded loyalty is expected to intensify, with more retailers linking rewards to wallets and cards rather than proprietary apps. This will raise expectations for real-time earn and instant redemption, reducing tolerance for delayed or offline reward mechanics.

Scale Coalition Loyalty Across Retail, Hospitality, and Travel

• Coalition programs continue to anchor loyalty in the UAE, connecting grocery, fuel, hospitality, and travel under a single earn-and-redeem structure. Majid Al Futtaim operates SHARE, spanning Carrefour, VOX Cinemas, and leisure assets, while Emirates Skywards extends beyond air travel into retail and financial partners.
• The UAE’s mall-led retail model and its role as a global travel hub favour programs that aggregate spend across multiple sectors. Coalition structures allow brands to stay relevant across different consumption moments without building separate loyalty stacks.
• Coalition programs are likely to become more selective about partners and benefits, focusing on utility-driven earn-and-redemption rather than broad, shallow participation. Expect tighter integration with digital channels and payments rather than pure points accumulation.

Align Loyalty with Digital Identity and Super-App Ecosystems

• Loyalty is increasingly linked to digital identity layers such as telecom, wallets, and government-linked platforms. e& integrates Smiles rewards across telecom services, retail offers, and digital payments, positioning loyalty as part of a broader consumer identity rather than a retail add-on.
• High smartphone penetration and frequent use of digital government and telecom services create a natural anchor for identity-based loyalty. This aligns with the wider loyalty industry movement toward unified customer profiles across services.
• Loyalty programs tied to identity platforms are expected to gain structural advantages in engagement and data linkage. Standalone retail programs may face pressure to integrate or partner with these ecosystems to remain visible.

Shift Loyalty Value from Discounts to Access and Utility

• UAE loyalty programs are placing greater emphasis on access-based benefits, priority services, exclusive experiences, and bundled privileges rather than relying only on transactional discounts. Dubai Mall-linked programs increasingly combine retail rewards with parking, dining, and entertainment privileges, reflecting this shift.
• A diverse resident base and strong tourism inflows mean loyalty must work for both frequent residents and episodic visitors. Access, convenience, and recognition translate better across these segments than pure price-based incentives.
• Loyalty propositions are expected to become more modular, allowing brands to flex between utility for residents and experience-led value for visitors. Programs that rely only on discounts risk lower engagement as access-led benefits become baseline expectations.

Competitive Landscape

Over the next 2-4 years, the competitive landscape is expected to consolidate around a few dominant ecosystems rather than fragment further. Standalone or single-brand loyalty programs are likely to face pressure to partner, federate, or integrate with larger coalitions, wallets, or platforms. Competition will increasingly shift from points mechanics to access, embedded rewards, and real-time redemption, raising execution requirements across the market.

Current State of the Market

• Loyalty in the UAE is highly competitive and ecosystem-led, shaped by large retail groups, national champions, and digital platforms rather than standalone loyalty vendors. The market is characterised by coalition programs, vertically integrated retail ecosystems, and embedded loyalty tied to payments, fuel, telecom, and travel. Competitive intensity is high in grocery, fuel, malls, and travel-linked retail, where loyalty is used to anchor repeat

Key Players and New Entrants

• Majid Al Futtaim remains a central force through SHARE, spanning grocery, cinemas, malls, and leisure assets. Emirates Skywards continues to set benchmarks for cross-sector earn-and-burn beyond aviation, extending into retail and financial services.
• ADNOC Distribution has built one of the strongest everyday-use loyalty programs by integrating rewards across fuel, convenience retail, and services. e& positions Smiles as a digital-first rewards layer linked to telecom, lifestyle, and payment use cases. New competitive pressure is coming from platform-led players such as Careem, which bundles loyalty into ride-hailing, food, and quick commerce, and Noon, which embeds rewards within its commerce and logistics ecosystem.

Recent Launches, Mergers, and Acquisitions

• The past year has seen incremental expansion rather than consolidation, with players extending loyalty through payment partnerships, co-branded cards, and digital wallet integrations.
• Retail and fuel-linked programs have focused on deepening earn-and-redeem use cases at checkout, while super-apps have expanded loyalty benefits across multiple services instead of acquiring standalone programs.

This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the loyalty industry in United Arab Emirates, offering comprehensive coverage of both overall and alternative lending markets. It covers more than 100+ KPIs, including spend value on loyalty schemes, loyalty breakage rate, and penetration rate.

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

• 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 Market Intelligence: Gain a comprehensive view of the loyalty market by quantifying total loyalty spend value and its composition across loyalty schemes and loyalty platforms, supported by retail context indicators to benchmark market scale, structure, and growth dynamics.
• Granular Loyalty Spend Coverage: Analyze loyalty spend value across loyalty schemes and loyalty platforms, supported by structured segmentation across program types (e.g., point-based, tiered, cashback, subscription, community, gaming, mission-driven, paid, and referral-led formats).
• Channel and Sector-Level Execution Insights: Evaluate how loyalty spend is distributed across in-store, online, and mobile channels, and across key verticals including Retail, Financial Services, Healthcare & Wellness, Restaurants & Food Delivery, Travel & Hospitality, Telecoms, and Media & Entertainment, with dedicated sector × channel views.
• Program Structure and Participation Mix: Understand how loyalty schemes differ by business model (seller-driven vs. payment-instrument-driven), accessibility (card-based vs. digital), consumer type (B2B vs. B2C), and membership type (free, premium, and free+premium), enabling more precise program design and competitive benchmarking.
• Embedded Loyalty and Emerging Mechanisms Tracking: Assess the evolution of embedded vs. non-embedded loyalty and track spend splits linked to program enablement, including AI-driven and blockchain-driven loyalty program spend where captured in the dataset.
• Platform Spend and Vendor/Deployment Benchmarking: Benchmark loyalty platform economics by software use case (analytics/AI-driven vs. management platforms), solution partner model (in-house vs. third-party), deployment (cloud vs. on-premise), and offering mix (software vs. services; custom-built vs. off-the-shelf).
• Consumer Demographics and Program KPI Lens: Access loyalty spend share by age, income, and gender, alongside decision-critical program KPIs such as loyalty penetration (% of retail sales under loyalty), primary motivation split, breakage rate, enrollment channel mix, and embedded loyalty penetration by channel.
• Decision-Ready Databook Format with 100+ KPIs: Leverage a structured dataset with historical and forecast coverage through 2030, designed for direct integration into market models, strategic planning, and executive presentations by retailers, platforms, payment providers, technology vendors, and investors.