Global 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 global loyalty market is expected to grow by 15.6% annually, reaching US$159.0 billion by 2026.

The loyalty industry has experienced robust growth during 2021-2025, achieving a CAGR of 17.3%. This upward trajectory is expected to continue, with the market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 13.6% from 2026 to 2030. By the end of 2030, the loyalty market is projected to expand from its 2025 value of US$137.6 billion to approximately US$264.4 billion.

Key Trends and Drivers

Loyalty is moving from points-only retention to paid membership ecosystems

• Globally, loyalty programs are increasingly being repositioned as membership ecosystems that combine rewards, delivery, payments, content, personalized offers, and partner benefits. This is a shift from earlier programs that mainly rewarded repeat transactions. Amazon continues to describe Prime as a membership program built around shipping, media, and other benefits, while Walmart+ is positioned around omni-channel shopping services. Target’s Circle structure also reflects the split between free loyalty, paid membership, and card-linked benefits, showing how large retailers are creating multi-tier loyalty architectures rather than relying on one rewards layer.
• The main driver is the pressure on retailers and digital platforms to protect purchase frequency while reducing dependence on paid acquisition and third-party marketplaces. Subscription-linked loyalty gives retailers a recurring relationship with customers, while delivery benefits, exclusive offers, and partner perks increase the number of reasons for members to stay inside the ecosystem. Inflation-sensitive consumers are also comparing membership fees against visible savings, which is pushing retailers to make paid loyalty benefits more practical and frequently used.
• This trend is likely to intensify, but with more disciplined benefit design. Retailers will continue adding paid tiers, delivery-linked benefits, and partner offers, but programs that cannot show clear everyday value may face weaker renewal rates. The competitive focus will shift from member enrolment to usage frequency, incremental basket value, and whether loyalty benefits can support profitable omni-channel growth.

Travel loyalty is becoming a profit engine, but benefits are being tightened

• Airline and hotel loyalty programs are moving further from simple travel rewards toward financial and partnership platforms. Delta reported American Express remuneration related to SkyMiles of US$8.2 billion in 2025, while IAG continues to report IAG Loyalty as a distinct business activity. Qantas also reports Qantas Loyalty separately, showing that loyalty economics are now central to airline group performance rather than a secondary customer-engagement tool.
• The driver is the continued recovery and normalization of global travel demand, combined with the high-margin nature of co-branded card partnerships, points sales, and direct booking strategies. Hotels are also using loyalty to reduce reliance on online travel agencies and protect direct customer relationships. Marriott’s 2025 annual report emphasizes growth in its loyalty membership base and continued focus on Marriott Bonvoy as a travel platform, while Hilton’s 2025 annual report highlights upgrades to Hilton Honors, including changes to elite status access.
• The trend will intensify, but customer pushback will also rise as programs rebalance economics. Airlines and hotels are likely to keep rewarding high-spend members, co-branded cardholders, and direct bookers, while reducing the value available to low-frequency members. This will make loyalty programs more profitable for operators, but it may also weaken emotional loyalty if members perceive devaluations, restricted redemptions, or elite-status inflation.

Rewards are being embedded into payments, wallets, and checkout journeys

• A newer global shift is the embedding of rewards into payment credentials, wallets, and checkout experiences rather than keeping loyalty separate from payment. Visa’s 2025 annual report highlights digital wallet enablement and payment access initiatives, while Mastercard continues to position its network services around digital-first issuing, security, and value-added services. PayPal’s 2025 filing also reflects the company’s push to strengthen its consumer value proposition across checkout and digital wallet use cases.
• The driver is the convergence of commerce, payments, and customer engagement. Merchants want loyalty offers to appear at the point of payment, not after the transaction, because payment-linked rewards can improve redemption visibility and reduce friction. Payment networks and wallet providers are also looking for value-added services beyond transaction processing, especially as real-time payments, account-to-account payments, and digital wallets increase competition in the payments stack.
• This trend is likely to intensify as loyalty becomes more transaction-triggered and less dependent on standalone loyalty cards or apps. Banks, card issuers, payment networks, wallets, and merchants will compete to own the rewards moment at checkout. The likely outcome is more partnership-based loyalty, where rewards are funded and distributed across issuers, merchants, platforms, and payment networks rather than controlled by a single brand.

Regulation and consumer scrutiny are forcing clearer loyalty economics

• Globally, loyalty programs are facing greater scrutiny over reward devaluation, unclear conditions, personal-data use, and individualized pricing. The U.S. CFPB has warned that credit card rewards programs may create consumer protection risks where rewards are devalued, revoked, or blocked through unclear terms. The FTC’s surveillance-pricing work has also increased attention on how companies use personal data to personalize prices and offers, which is directly relevant to loyalty programs built on transaction histories and behavioral profiles.
• The driver is the growing gap between how loyalty programs are marketed and how consumers experience them. As programs become more personalized, app-based, and partner-funded, customers may find it harder to understand true reward value, expiry rules, redemption limits, and whether offers are being tailored fairly. In Europe, the European Commission’s 2030 Consumer Agenda and Digital Fairness Act work signals a wider policy direction toward stronger protection against unfair online practices, including practices linked to profiling and digital consumer journeys.
• This trend will intensify and will likely push loyalty operators toward clearer disclosures, simpler redemption rules, stronger consent management, and more auditable personalization models. Programs that rely heavily on opaque pricing, complex partner terms, or frequent point devaluations may face higher legal, reputational, and customer-retention risk. The winners will be programs that can still personalize offers while making reward value understandable and defensible.

Competitive Landscape

Over the next 2-4 years, competition is likely to intensify but also become more selective. Retailers will compete on paid loyalty value, delivery access, and personalized offers; airlines and hotels will prioritize high-value members, co-branded card economics, and direct bookings; and payment networks will push rewards closer to checkout. At the same time, regulatory scrutiny around credit card rewards, data use, and personalized pricing will make transparency and redemption fairness more important. This is likely to favor large ecosystems with first-party customer relationships and technology vendors that can support privacy-compliant personalization across countries.

Current State of the Market

• Competition in the global loyalty program market has intensified as retailers, airlines, hotels, banks, card issuers, payment networks, and loyalty technology vendors now compete around customer ownership rather than only rewards issuance. The market is no longer led by one model: Amazon Prime, Walmart+, and Target Circle show the strength of retailer- and subscription-led loyalty; Delta SkyMiles, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards, and Qantas Loyalty show the continued importance of travel-led programs; and American Express, Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal show how rewards are being embedded into card, wallet, and checkout ecosystems. Recent filings indicate that loyalty is increasingly treated as a profit, payments, and data-engagement asset, not only a retention tool.

Key Players and New Entrants

• Key global competitors include retailer ecosystems such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, Carrefour, Tesco, and Alibaba; airline and travel players such as Delta, United, IAG Loyalty, Qantas Loyalty, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, and Accor Live Limitless; and financial-services players such as American Express Membership Rewards, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and major issuing banks. Loyalty technology and engagement platforms are also becoming more visible, including Capillary Technologies, SessionM, Salesforce, SAP Emarsys, Eagle Eye, Antavo, and Yotpo. Capillary’s 2025 Red Herring Prospectus and 2026 SessionM acquisition update support its positioning as a global loyalty technology player rather than a country-specific vendor.

Recent Launches, Partnerships, Mergers, and Acquisitions

• Recent competitive activity shows three clear moves: large retailers are expanding paid and app-based loyalty; travel groups are strengthening loyalty economics through co-branded cards and direct booking; and loyalty technology vendors are consolidating capabilities. Capillary Technologies’ agreement to acquire Mastercard-owned SessionM in 2026 is a notable consolidation move, adding North America, Latin America, and APAC exposure. In travel, Delta continued to disclose substantial SkyMiles-related American Express remuneration, while Marriott and IHG continued positioning loyalty as central to direct customer engagement. Retailers such as Target and Walmart are using paid memberships and loyalty-linked events to compete more directly with Amazon Prime.

This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the loyalty industry in Global, 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 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 21 reports, covering 1600+ tables and 2200+ figures:

• Global Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Argentina Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Australia Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Brazil Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Canada Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• China Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• France Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Germany Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• India Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Indonesia Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Italy Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Kenya Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Mexico Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Nigeria Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Philippines Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Russia Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• South Africa Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Thailand Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• United Arab Emirates Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• United Kingdom Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• United States 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

• 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.