Middle East 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 Middle East is expected to grow by 15.2% annually, reaching US$2.4 billion by 2026.

The loyalty market in the region 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 13.7% from 2026 to 2030. By the end of 2030, the loyalty market is projected to expand from its 2025 value of US$2.1 billion to approximately US$4.1 billion.

Key Trends and Drivers

Retail and mobility operators are turning loyalty into a measurable retention asset

• Middle East loyalty activity has moved beyond points collection toward loyalty programs being treated as operating assets that support repeat visits, cross-category spend, and customer retention. In the UAE, Majid Al Futtaim’s 2025 financial statements continue to identify revenue from the SHARE loyalty program and prepaid card operations, while its latest results update states that SHARE reached 10.3 million members in 2025 and expanded through co-branded credit cards with Emirates NBD, ADIB, and Visa. ADNOC Distribution also reported that ADNOC Rewards exceeded 2.6 million members in 2025, reaching more than half of the UAE driver population, showing how fuel retailers are using loyalty to defend traffic and grow non-fuel retail engagement.
• Retailers and mobility operators are facing higher competition for repeat spend as consumers split purchases across malls, fuel stations, supermarkets, food delivery apps, wallets, and travel platforms. Loyalty is therefore being used to create a single customer view across shopping, grocery, entertainment, fuel, and convenience retail. This is especially relevant in the GCC, where large groups operate multiple customer touchpoints and can connect loyalty rewards to payments, cards, apps, and physical locations.
• This trend is likely to intensify, especially in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, as loyalty programs become more closely tied to merchant economics, app engagement, and customer lifetime value. Programs with large everyday redemption networks will have an advantage, while smaller standalone schemes may need partnerships or card-linked offers to remain relevant.

Loyalty currencies are becoming payment-adjacent and utility-linked

• A newer development in the Middle East is the use of loyalty points for practical everyday payments, not only retail discounts or travel redemptions. In Saudi Arabia, STC Group’s Q2 2025 earnings presentation highlighted a partnership between Qitaf and the National Water Company, allowing customers to use Qitaf points to pay water and sanitation bills. This signals a shift from loyalty as a rewards catalogue toward loyalty as a wallet-like value layer inside national digital payment ecosystems.
• Saudi Arabia’s payments infrastructure is becoming more digital and transaction-heavy. The Financial Sector Development Program’s 2024 annual report states that electronic payments accounted for 79% of total retail individual payments in 2024, up from 70% in 2023, while e-commerce payments surpassed one billion transactions. This creates more occasions where loyalty points can be used as spendable value across utilities, travel, e-commerce, and public-service-linked payments.
• The impact will be strongest in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where telcos, banks, wallets and public-service platforms have the scale to turn points into utility-like value. The trend is expected to intensify, but with more compliance scrutiny around customer consent, liability accounting, expiry rules and redemption transparency as points become closer to stored value.

Subscription loyalty is becoming central to super-app economics

• Subscription-based loyalty is gaining importance in Middle East platform ecosystems, particularly where food delivery, grocery, mobility and payments sit inside one app. e&’s 2025 Integrated Annual Report states that Careem Plus saw a major step-change in adoption, supported by improved onboarding and new annual plans, with membership growing 1.6x year on year. This is a recent shift from transaction-led discounts toward subscription models designed to increase frequency across Food, Quik, and mobility.
• The driver is platform economics. Careem’s 2025 performance was supported by stronger activity across Quik, Food, Plus and Pay, while the company intensified its focus on the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. For super-app operators, subscription loyalty helps reduce reliance on one-off promotions by locking in higher-frequency users and encouraging cross-use between delivery, grocery, mobility and payments.
• Subscription loyalty is likely to intensify in urban GCC markets but remain selective rather than universal. Consumers will keep subscriptions only where the monthly or annual value is clear across multiple services. This will push platforms to bundle delivery savings, priority access, payment benefits, and partner rewards instead of relying only on discounting.

Airline loyalty is being refreshed around redemption flexibility and premium travel recovery

• Airline loyalty programs in the Middle East are being refreshed as travel demand normalizes and carriers compete for high-value travelers. Emirates’ 2025-26 annual report notes that Skywards marked its 25-year anniversary with enhanced reward opportunities, including Classic Rewards redemptions on all flydubai flights and Premium Economy redemptions and upgrades. Qatar Airways’ 2025-26 annual report also continues to position Privilege Club as a core loyalty pillar, with the Avios ecosystem supporting flight, duty-free and partner redemptions.
• Middle East carriers are using loyalty to capture more value from premium cabins, connecting traffic, co-branded cards, partner hotels, and regional tourism flows. The recent change is not only passenger recovery; it is the push to make miles easier to earn and burn across partner networks, premium economy, low-cost affiliates, and non-flight experiences. This supports retention as travelers compare fares, benefits, and redemption value across global airline alliances.
• Airline loyalty competition is likely to intensify, especially in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as carriers expand routes and tourism ecosystems. Programs that improve redemption availability, partner breadth, and family or everyday earning options will strengthen engagement, while programs perceived as restrictive may face member dissatisfaction despite strong travel demand.

Competitive Landscape

Over the next 2-4 years, competition is likely to intensify in the GCC and remain more selective in the wider Middle East. The strongest programs will be those that connect rewards with daily spending, cards, wallets, travel, delivery, fuel, and lifestyle services. Saudi Arabia’s continued shift toward electronic retail payments also supports more card-linked and wallet-linked rewards. Consolidation is more likely through partnerships than acquisitions, as banks, retailers, airlines and platforms seek broader redemption networks without building every capability internally.

Current State of the Market

• Competition in the Middle East loyalty program market is now concentrated around ecosystem ownership, rather than standalone rewards. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are the most active markets, with large retailers, fuel operators, airlines, delivery platforms, telecom groups and banks competing to keep customers inside app-linked reward environments. Majid Al Futtaim’s SHARE, ADNOC Rewards, stc’s Qitaf, Emirates Skywards, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Careem Plus and talabat Rewards show how loyalty is being shaped by retail frequency, mobility, travel recovery, subscription benefits and digital payments rather than by traditional points programs alone.

Key Players and New Entrants

• The competitive base is led by retailer-led and travel-led programs, but platform and telecom loyalty are becoming more visible. Majid Al Futtaim’s SHARE remains one of the region’s largest retail-linked programs, reaching 10.3 million members in 2025. ADNOC Rewards reported 2.61 million members in 2025, with deeper integration across fuel, convenience retail and car care. In travel, Emirates Skywards and Qatar Airways Privilege Club continue to defend premium customer relationships, while talabat and Careem compete through app-based rewards and subscription loyalty across food, grocery, mobility and payments.

Recent Launches, Partnerships, Mergers, and Acquisitions

• Recent competitive activity points to partnership expansion and utility-linked redemption. Majid Al Futtaim expanded SHARE through additional co-branded credit cards with Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, and Visa. stc’s Qitaf partnered with Saudi Arabia’s National Water Company, allowing customers to use points for water and sanitation bills. Qatar Airways added Avios Exclusive, enabling Privilege Club members to redeem Cash + Avios, while Emirates expanded Skywards reward opportunities across flydubai and Premium Economy.

This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the loyalty industry in Middle East, 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 5 reports, covering 350+ tables and 500+ figures:

• Middle East Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Israel Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Saudi Arabia Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• Turkey Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook
• United Arab Emirates Loyalty Market Business and Investment Opportunities Databook

Report Scope

This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the regional 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.