Entries now open for The Loyalty Magazine Awards 2019
Welcome to The Americas!
• Entries now invited from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, the whole of Asia and this year we invite The Americas to enter!
• We are now global!
A Loyalty Magazine Award is the most coveted award in Loyalty. People value the achievement of being judged the best among their peers and brands wear their Winner’s Seal with pride.

For the eighth year, we are proud to announce that entries are now open for The Loyalty Magazine Awards 2019 – and what an exciting year it promises to be. Read more ...

Smart homes seen as a ‘gamechanger for loyalty’
Samsung describes "massive stickiness" of a connected futureArtificial intelligence in devices that will turn our homes into connected spaces will be a gamechanger for loyalty, says Samsung, but privacy and security still need addressing. Read more ...

Why the Hyperledger Ethereum deal is important
Major blockchains announce alliance aims to "be more open" Read more ...

Retailers are approaching customer loyalty backwards
New survey says retailers not measuring correctly

Retailers are failing to measure the correct data to understand customer loyalty, and that is putting customer relationships and profitability at risk. Read more ...

Hyatt integrates Exhale into its rewards scheme
Points can be earned for fitness classes and spa therapies
Read more ...

Crypto exchange to use rewards programme to ID customers
Crypto currencies used to launder US$88.6m, says report
Criminals becoming "early adopters" of new technology
Various stages of cybercrime explained

A cryptocurrency exchange that has been highlighted in a Wall Street Journal report as a huge channel for money laundering, is to introduce a rewards programme to gather user identities. Read more ...

Fave and Grab combine to grow
Fave and Grab, two of the leading online to offline (o2o) platforms in Southeast Asia, have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate growth for both platforms across the region. The partnership combines the strengths of Fave’s broad merchant network as well as its FaveDeals platform, with Grab’s large user base and growing ecosystem. Read more ...

Tesco Bank suffers first FCA cyber-crime fine
Reputation damage to group inevitable

Tesco bank has been fined £16.4 million penalty for cyber hacking that occurred two years ago. This is the first cyber fine issued by the FCA in the UK. For Tesco, it is a massive hit for its reputation as a trusted retailer and will have implications for the whole organisation and even its loyalty programme membership. Read more ...

Travel brands top 'lack of loyalty' league
Need for more relevant offers and recommendations
Best rated travel brand by consumers comes in at lowly 67th

Read more ...

John Lewis and Waitrose trial joint loyalty programme
Bringing connected brands together in one loyalty programme
John Lewis (department store) shoppers are also Waitrose (food store) shoppers, being the same demographic (middle class, reasonable income, like quality stuff). Well no, actually. Read more ...

Entries now open for The Loyalty Magazine Awards 2019
Welcome to The Americas!
• Entries now invited from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, the whole of Asia and this year we invite The Americas to enter!
• We are now global!
A Loyalty Magazine Award is the most coveted award in Loyalty. People value the achievement of being judged the best among their peers and brands wear their Winner’s Seal with pride.

For the eighth year, we are proud to announce that entries are now open for The Loyalty Magazine Awards 2019 – and what an exciting year it promises to be. Read more ...

Smart homes seen as a ‘gamechanger for loyalty’
Samsung describes "massive stickiness" of a connected futureArtificial intelligence in devices that will turn our homes into connected spaces will be a gamechanger for loyalty, says Samsung, but privacy and security still need addressing. Read more ...

Why the Hyperledger Ethereum deal is important
Major blockchains announce alliance aims to "be more open" Read more ...

Retailers are approaching customer loyalty backwards
New survey says retailers not measuring correctly

Retailers are failing to measure the correct data to understand customer loyalty, and that is putting customer relationships and profitability at risk. Read more ...

Hyatt integrates Exhale into its rewards scheme
Points can be earned for fitness classes and spa therapies
Read more ...

Crypto exchange to use rewards programme to ID customers
Crypto currencies used to launder US$88.6m, says report
Criminals becoming "early adopters" of new technology
Various stages of cybercrime explained

A cryptocurrency exchange that has been highlighted in a Wall Street Journal report as a huge channel for money laundering, is to introduce a rewards programme to gather user identities. Read more ...

Fave and Grab combine to grow
Fave and Grab, two of the leading online to offline (o2o) platforms in Southeast Asia, have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate growth for both platforms across the region. The partnership combines the strengths of Fave’s broad merchant network as well as its FaveDeals platform, with Grab’s large user base and growing ecosystem. Read more ...

Tesco Bank suffers first FCA cyber-crime fine
Reputation damage to group inevitable

Tesco bank has been fined £16.4 million penalty for cyber hacking that occurred two years ago. This is the first cyber fine issued by the FCA in the UK. For Tesco, it is a massive hit for its reputation as a trusted retailer and will have implications for the whole organisation and even its loyalty programme membership. Read more ...

Travel brands top 'lack of loyalty' league
Need for more relevant offers and recommendations
Best rated travel brand by consumers comes in at lowly 67th

Read more ...

John Lewis and Waitrose trial joint loyalty programme
Bringing connected brands together in one loyalty programme
John Lewis (department store) shoppers are also Waitrose (food store) shoppers, being the same demographic (middle class, reasonable income, like quality stuff). Well no, actually. Read more ...

Tech brands dominate Loyalty rankings
Proving the Rule of Six
Of the top 100 product categories and brands in a new ranking of customer loyalty leaders, more than a third (35%) are tech companies engaged in digital technology, social networks and products. In fact, of the top 10 brands, only one is a non-tech firm. Read more ...

Patent claims could cost UK payments industry millions
Patents cover data capture for loyalty, the entire architecture and operating system and are device agnostic
An entrepreneur who filed patents ten years ago covering EPOS with screens has begun action to activate the ownership of this intellectual property. If he is successful, the UK card payments industry could face claims for many millions of pounds. Read more ...

It's not price that keeps us returning to Amazon, it's convenience
John Lewis results sad but not surprising
I bought a stair-gate today. This should have been a fairly easy purchase, but it was made difficult because I hesitated in Aldi last month and missed their offer.  Read more ...

Special report
Restaurant chains moving to an airline loyalty model
Big chains attracted by tiers to encourage spend and boost visits
Profiles of Starbucks, Restaurant Revolution, Wayback Burgers, TGI Fridays, Chick-fil-A
When Starbucks moves, people in loyalty are inclined to look, which is why its announcement during an earnings call that it would be making changes to its loyalty programme caused such a coffee stir. Read more ...

Balance needed between personalisation and privacy
No distinguishing between channels for consumers

A study of 12,000 shoppers worldwide has concluded that shoppers may not actually want the personalised shopping experience most retailers are struggling to provide. Read more ...

Saracens rugby chairman invests in Koin Rewards
Koin Rewards, a blockchain loyalty play targeting the UK market has successfully closed its seed funding round, raising £350,000. Read more ...

Lloyds glitch shows up faults in disaster recovery
Lack of customer communication with social media lethargy hampers response
New report highlights poor communication amongst banks
Can lessons be learnt from other sectors? Read more ...

All Visa Australia cardholders to be offered rewards link-up
Visa following MasterCard in groundbreaking agreement
Visa has announced a partnership  to roll out an instant rewards loyalty scheme including cashback, to all Visa cardholders across Australia. Read more ...

Mobile loyalty and rewards company raises US$20m for a technology leapfrog
A company which claims to be Southeast Asia’s largest mobile loyalty and rewards platform raised over US$20 million in a Series B round. Read more ...

Google in Mastercard deal to access offline spending
Companies insist data is anonymised
Google has apparently bought Mastercard credit card data in the US to help it track users' offline spending in stores. It highlights the issue of consumers choosing to use recent privacy regulation to go “dark” and refuse to share their data. This is an ongoing problem for Google, because its business case is based on its ability to share consumer analytics with advertisers. Read more ...