Asia-Pacific 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 Asia-Pacific is expected to grow by 16.0% annually, reaching US$37.1 billion by 2026.

The loyalty market in the region has experienced robust growth during 2021-2025, achieving a CAGR of 18.2%. This upward trajectory is expected to continue, with the market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 13.5% from 2026 to 2030. By the end of 2030, the loyalty market is projected to expand from its 2025 value of US$32.0 billion to approximately US$61.6 billion.

Key Trends and Drivers - Loyalty in Asia-Pacific

Loyalty in Asia-Pacific is evolving rapidly, shaped by super app dominance, subscription economics, omnichannel retail priorities, and tightening regulatory environments. The next phase of loyalty growth will be defined by embedded reward mechanics, platform-led memberships, and operational alignment with data governance frameworks. Regional variation will persist, but the common thread is a shift toward loyalty models that are transaction-linked, digitally integrated, and structurally tied to platform usage and retail ecosystems.

Embed Loyalty Deeply into Super Apps, Wallets, and Digital Ecosystems

Loyalty programs in Asia-Pacific are increasingly embedded into digital platforms such as super apps, wallets, and lifestyle ecosystems. Rather than running as standalone rewards programs, loyalty is tied to high-frequency activities across payments, mobility, ecommerce, food delivery, and entertainment. For instance, Grab continues to operate GrabRewards across its Southeast Asian footprint, covering ride-hailing, delivery, payments, and lending. In Indonesia, GoTo Group aligns loyalty across Gojek, Tokopedia, and GoPay, allowing users to earn and redeem within an integrated environment.
In South Korea, Naver embeds loyalty into Naver Pay, shopping, and media services, while Kakao links rewards across Kakao Pay and commerce tied to KakaoTalk.
High levels of app penetration, multi-service usage, and platform consolidation have shifted loyalty execution away from isolated apps. Consumers in markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines interact with a single super app across multiple daily needs. Platforms use loyalty to retain users within the ecosystem and drive cross-service engagement.

This embedded model is expected to deepen, with loyalty increasingly designed around usage frequency, payment integration, and subscription tiers. Multi-brand coalition models are unlikely to scale in markets where platform ecosystems dominate.

Shift Loyalty from Points Accumulation to Paid Membership and Tiered Access

Across multiple Asia-Pacific markets, loyalty is evolving from generic points collection to structured paid or bundled memberships. These programs offer tangible benefits such as free delivery, early access, and premium services. In China, Alibaba operates 88VIP, combining privileges across Tmall, Taobao, Ele.me, and Youku. JD.com’s JD Plus similarly combines retail benefits with logistics and healthcare access.
In Japan, major retailers link point programs to broader membership platforms, such as Rakuten, which combines points with payments, content, and mobile services.

As ecommerce and digital delivery markets mature, points-based loyalty has become commoditised. Paid memberships help platforms differentiate customer tiers, manage cost of rewards, and offer benefits that drive consistent usage. More platforms and large retailers are expected to adopt premium membership layers. The distinction between basic loyalty and subscription-based privileges will widen, particularly in high-income and digitally advanced markets.

Anchor Loyalty in Everyday Retail and Omnichannel Commerce

Traditional retailers across Asia-Pacific continue to use loyalty to drive repeat visits and basket value, especially in grocery, pharmacy, and convenience sectors. Loyalty is increasingly omnichannel bridging in-store identification, app-based rewards, and online checkout. In Japan, AEON continues to extend WAON Points across retail, malls, and financial services. In India, Reliance Retail has unified loyalty across physical and online channels under the JioMart and Reliance One ecosystem.
Retailers in Australia, Singapore, and Thailand are also integrating loyalty into mobile apps with payment-linked offers, replacing card-based systems.

Essential spending categories such as grocery and fuel remain highly competitive. Loyalty programs in these segments help influence brand preference and frequency of purchase without directly lowering prices. Retailers are expected to increase investment in omnichannel loyalty features particularly digital ID, personalised offers, and closed-loop payment incentives. Cross-retailer interoperability is likely to remain limited.

Maintain Airline Loyalty as a Distinct, Scaled Ecosystem

Airline loyalty programs continue to function as self-contained ecosystems. Programs like KrisFlyer (Singapore Airlines), Qantas Frequent Flyer, and Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific) remain central to airline strategies, offering earn-and-burn across travel, cards, and retail. These programs have increasingly partnered with banks, retailers, and lifestyle platforms to broaden redemption opportunities.

Post-pandemic recovery in regional and international travel has reinforced loyalty’s role in yield management and customer retention. Airline programs benefit from controlled breakage, high engagement in premium segments, and strong co-brand partnerships. Airline loyalty is expected to expand in partner depth, especially in lifestyle and financial services, but remain separate from super app and ecommerce loyalty ecosystems.

Operate Loyalty Under Increasing Regulatory and Platform Scrutiny

Governments across Asia-Pacific have increased oversight over data use and platform operations, directly impacting loyalty program design. Countries such as China, India, South Korea, and Australia have tightened enforcement of privacy frameworks. Platforms are adjusting loyalty mechanics to prioritise consent, reduce over-reliance on third-party data, and reinforce first-party data usage.

Concerns over cross-border data transfers, algorithmic targeting, and opaque reward mechanics have drawn regulator attention. Consumers are also becoming more selective about data sharing in exchange for loyalty benefits. Loyalty programs will likely become more transparent, with simplified mechanics and a focus on first-party, platform-contained engagement. Cross-brand or brokered loyalty networks could face headwinds in regulated markets.

Competitive Landscape - Loyalty in Asia-Pacific

Loyalty competition in Asia-Pacific is consolidating around platforms that control high-frequency consumer interactions whether through payments, commerce, or content. While new entrants are expanding the tooling and infrastructure for loyalty delivery, they operate behind the scenes rather than as challengers to the dominant ecosystems. Over the forecast period, the market will be shaped less by new coalition formation and more by execution quality, partner integration depth, and regulatory alignment within platform-controlled loyalty frameworks.

• Competition Intensifies Across Platforms, Retailers, and Service Ecosystems

Loyalty competition in Asia-Pacific is increasingly defined by ecosystem scale and digital integration rather than traditional points-based program variety. Incumbent platform players, large retailers, and travel operators dominate loyalty delivery, while newer entrants focus on enablement, infrastructure, or merchant tooling. Competitive intensity varies across markets high in China, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia where super apps and retail ecosystems are consolidated; moderate in Australia and India where category-led loyalty models still hold ground.
In Southeast Asia, competition is focused on embedding loyalty into commerce platforms and payment flows. In North Asia, loyalty is tightly coupled with content, payments, and retail ecosystems. In more mature markets such as Australia, competition remains active across grocery, fuel, and financial services.

• Incumbents Consolidate Control Through Ecosystem Loyalty

Platform operators and large retail conglomerates continue to dominate loyalty execution across the region. In Southeast Asia, Grab operates one of the most embedded loyalty platforms through GrabRewards, tightly integrated with transport, food delivery, fintech, and lending. In Indonesia, GoTo Group connects loyalty across Tokopedia, Gojek, and GoPay, creating a unified merchant-consumer reward loop.
In China, Alibaba’s 88VIP and JD Plus maintain wide partner networks and layered member benefits. Tencent supports merchant-led loyalty via WeChat mini-programs, enabling brands to embed rewards directly within their digital touchpoints. In Japan, Rakuten Ecosystem ties loyalty to financial products, mobile services, ecommerce, and travel, reinforcing high daily engagement.
Large retailers such as AEON (Japan), Reliance Retail (India), and Woolworths (Australia) continue to integrate loyalty across physical and digital channels. These players use scale to control both the earn-and-burn environment and drive closed-loop data capture.

• New Entrants Focus on Loyalty Enablement, Not Standalone Brands

Recent entrants in the loyalty space are largely focused on backend enablement, campaign automation, or merchant rewards orchestration. Loyalty technology vendors and CRM platforms such as Capillary Technologies (India/Singapore), Perx Technologies (Singapore), and Zinrelo are expanding partnerships with retailers and financial service providers across Southeast Asia and India.
In mature markets like Australia, fintech-driven enablers such as Cashrewards and ShopBack (which launched a physical Visa card in 2024 in partnership with Mastercard) are competing on execution and merchant ROI rather than brand-led loyalty.
These entrants rarely build consumer-facing loyalty ecosystems but act as infrastructure layers for coalition, retailer, or banking-led programs.

• Partnerships Extend Ecosystems Rather Than Form New Coalitions

Most loyalty-related partnership activity in the region has focused on deepening existing ecosystems rather than launching new coalitions. For example:

• Qantas expanded non-air partnerships within Qantas Frequent Flyer, including partnerships with new retail, energy, and insurance partners in 2024.
• Naver and Shinsegae in South Korea extended payment-linked benefits across ecommerce and retail through deeper integration with Naver Pay.
• PayPay in Japan continues to integrate cashbacks and stamp rewards into local merchant partnerships.

In India, Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank have expanded credit card and wallet-linked offers with embedded loyalty triggers rather than standalone rewards platforms.
Cross-brand, third-party coalitions have not gained new momentum in the region, and loyalty partnerships remain structurally tied to controlling platforms.

• Loyalty-Linked M&A Activity Focuses on Capabilities and Vertical Integration

There have been no major acquisitions of consumer-facing loyalty brands in the last 12 months. Where M&A has occurred, it has been aimed at enhancing loyalty delivery capabilities or integrating data and payments. For example:

• ShopBack acquired Hoolah (BNPL) in late 2023 to improve its value proposition across retail partners in Southeast Asia.
• Capillary Technologies acquired Brierley+Partners (US-based loyalty consultancy) in 2023 to strengthen analytics and strategy capabilities in APAC expansion markets.

These moves reflect an M&A strategy focused on building execution depth, not expanding market presence through brand acquisition.

• Data and Platform Regulation Shape Loyalty Execution Boundaries

Regulatory shifts across Asia-Pacific are beginning to reshape how loyalty programs manage customer data, rewards targeting, and cross-platform usage.

• In China, ongoing enforcement of the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) continues to influence loyalty design, with tighter requirements around data minimisation and consent.
• India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (2023) came into enforcement stages through 2024, affecting how loyalty platforms especially those run by ecommerce or financial services manage retention and targeting.
• In South Korea, increased scrutiny on digital advertising and algorithmic recommendations has reinforced expectations around transparency in reward delivery.
• Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) reforms and updates to the Privacy Act are pushing financial services and loyalty programs to increase user control and consent mechanisms.

These changes have led many loyalty operators to prioritise first-party data usage within closed ecosystems and reduce reliance on third-party enrichment for personalisation.

Loyalty to Remain Platform-Driven and Execution-Focused

Over the next 2-4 years, the Asia-Pacific loyalty market is expected to remain highly platform-led, with incumbents continuing to expand wallet, retail, and content-based loyalty ecosystems. New entrants will shape execution standards particularly around personalisation, merchant-funded offers, and real-time rewards but are unlikely to displace entrenched ecosystems.
Coalition loyalty will remain niche due to fragmentation in partner incentives and data-sharing barriers. Regulatory pressures are expected to increase across the region, limiting cross-platform experimentation but reinforcing platform-centric loyalty design.

Competitive Landscape - Loyalty in Asia-Pacific

Loyalty competition in Asia-Pacific is consolidating around platforms that control high-frequency consumer interactions whether through payments, commerce, or content. While new entrants are expanding tooling and infrastructure for loyalty delivery, they largely operate behind the scenes. Over the next few years, the market will be shaped more by execution quality, integration depth, and regulatory alignment within platform-led ecosystems, rather than by the emergence of new coalition programs.

• Competition Intensifies Across Platforms, Retailers, and Ecosystems

Loyalty in Asia-Pacific is increasingly defined by ecosystem scale and digital integration, rather than traditional points-based mechanics. Super apps, ecommerce giants, retailers, and travel operators dominate loyalty execution. Competitive intensity is highest in China, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, where ecosystems are consolidated. In Australia and India, category-led models still persist.
In Southeast Asia, loyalty is embedded into commerce and payment flows. In North Asia, it is tightly linked to content, financial services, and shopping platforms. Australia remains competitive across grocery, fuel, and banking.

• Incumbents Strengthen Control Through Ecosystem Loyalty

Platform-led incumbents continue to dominate loyalty delivery. In Southeast Asia, GrabRewards remains one of the region’s most integrated loyalty platforms, spanning mobility, food, payments, and lending. GoTo Group connects rewards across Tokopedia, Gojek, and GoPay, reinforcing user retention through ecosystem benefits.
In China, Alibaba’s 88VIP and JD Plus offer layered memberships across shopping, streaming, and delivery. Tencent supports merchant-led loyalty via WeChat mini-programs. In Japan, Rakuten anchors loyalty across ecommerce, banking, mobile, and travel.
Retailers such as AEON (Japan), Reliance Retail (India), and Woolworths (Australia) continue to drive loyalty through integrated digital and physical touchpoints, leveraging scale for closed-loop engagement.

• New Entrants Focus on Enablement, Not Consumer-Facing Brands

Recent loyalty entrants are concentrated in infrastructure enablement campaign automation, analytics, and merchant-funded reward delivery. Platforms like Capillary Technologies, Perx Technologies, and Zinrelo have expanded across Southeast Asia and India through partnerships with banks and retailers.
In Australia, Cashrewards and ShopBack compete on merchant ROI and execution. ShopBack's 2024 launch of a physical Visa card with Mastercard reflects the shift from cashback-only models to full-stack loyalty engagement. These entrants generally avoid direct consumer branding and operate as white-label or infrastructure partners.

• Partnerships Reinforce Ecosystems Rather Than Form New Coalitions

Recent partnership activity has focused on reinforcing existing platforms:

• Qantas expanded its Frequent Flyer program through partnerships with retailers, insurers, and energy firms.
• In South Korea, Naver and Shinsegae deepened Naver Pay-linked loyalty across ecommerce and retail.
• PayPay (Japan) continues to expand local merchant rewards via cashback and stamp mechanisms.
• In India, Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank launched co-branded credit and wallet-linked offers with loyalty triggers.

Third-party loyalty coalitions have seen limited traction due to partner fragmentation and platform control over consumer data.

• Loyalty-Linked M&A Prioritises Capability Building

No major acquisitions of consumer-facing loyalty brands were recorded in the past year. Recent deals focused on capabilities and market expansion:

• ShopBack acquired Hoolah (BNPL) to improve checkout value propositions.
• Capillary Technologies acquired Brierley+Partners, enhancing its analytics and strategy footprint across APAC.

These moves reflect a focus on loyalty enablement, not on scaling consumer programs.

Regulatory Shifts Redefine Data Boundaries

Policy changes across key markets have impacted how loyalty programs handle data, targeting, and personalisation:

• China’s PIPL continues to enforce strict consent and data minimisation in loyalty-linked services.
• India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (2023) affected data retention and targeting for ecommerce and fintech platforms.
• South Korea introduced tighter oversight of algorithmic targeting and user profiling.
• Australia’s CDR and Privacy Act updates are pushing programs toward opt-in, transparent consent frameworks.

These developments have pushed loyalty operators toward first-party data strategies within closed ecosystems, limiting third-party integrations.

Loyalty to Remain Platform-Driven

Over the next 2-4 years, loyalty in Asia-Pacific is expected to remain tightly tied to platforms with broad consumer reach. Incumbents will deepen their ecosystem-led models, while newer players will support loyalty orchestration through tools and infrastructure. Coalition-based models will remain niche, constrained by low partner interoperability and growing regulatory barriers. The defining factors will be execution quality, ecosystem depth, and data governance compliance.

This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the loyalty industry in Asia-Pacific, 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 deliver a detailed view of market performance, structural trends, and growth dynamics across the loyalty ecosystem, covering loyalty spend value, consumer engagement patterns, and channel execution.

This title is a bundled offering, combining the following 14 reports, covering 1100+ tables and 1400+ figures:

• Asia-Pacific Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Australia Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Bangladesh Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• China Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• India Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Indonesia Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Japan Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Malaysia Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• South Korea Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Philippines Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Singapore Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Taiwan Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Thailand Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Vietnam Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook

Report Scope

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

Retail Sector Market Context

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

Loyalty Spend Market Size and Growth Dynamics

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

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

Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Channel

• In-Store
• Online
• Mobile

Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Business Model

• Seller Driven
• Payment Instrument Driven
• Other Segment

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

Retail Sector Deep-Dive: Loyalty Schemes Spend by Retail Segment

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

Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Accessibility

• Card Based Access
• Digital Access

Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Consumer Type

• B2B Consumers
• B2C Consumers

Loyalty Schemes Spend Segmentation by Membership Type

• Free
• Free + Premium
• Premium

Loyalty Spend Split by Embedded vs. Non-Embedded Loyalty

• Embedded Loyalty Programs
• Non-Embedded Loyalty Programs

Loyalty Spend Split by Use of AI / Blockchain

• AI Driven Loyalty Program
• Blockchain Driven Loyalty Program

Loyalty Platform Spend Segmentation by Software Use Case

• Analytics and AI Driven
• Management Platform

Loyalty Platform Spend Segmentation by Vendor / Solution Partner

• In-house
• Third-Party Vendor

Loyalty Platform Spend Segmentation by Deployment

• Cloud
• On-Premise

Loyalty Platform Spend Segmentation by Offering

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

Consumer Demographics & Behaviour (Loyalty Spend Share), 2025

• Age Group
• Income Level
• Gender

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.