In the UK, loyalty schemes are a part of everyday shopping. According to data from Mintel, 80% of Brits actively used at least one loyalty programme in 2025. But while participation is at an all-time high, the way these schemes work is changing. This is mainly due to the increased competition and consumer demands.
What’s Leading the Shift?
The biggest changes to UK loyalty aren’t the technology itself. It’s actually the psychology behind it. Retailers have started borrowing engagement techniques from gaming and entertainment players, where free daily rewards, challenges, and progress tracking exist.
For example, in the online entertainment world, online casino and bingo platforms use promotions on their online bingo games to drive regular engagement. These most commonly include daily rewards games and personalised offers that give people a reason to return to a single platform consistently. These kinds of engagement rewards are now being adopted similarly across retail.
Central Co-op is a good example of this in action. By working with Lobyco, they launched a gamified membership app. This app features cashback benefits, personalised promotions, and daily rewards. 
From Cards to Apps
Loyalty cards are slowly disappearing as well. Back in the day, these worked. You collected points and received discounts at checkout, and everybody was happy. However, nowadays, this isn’t enough. Consumers want app-led loyalty.
This isn’t just beneficial for consumers, though. For retailers, apps provide frictionless identification at checkout, direct access to first-party customer data, and tighter control over how retailers communicate with their members.
Naturally, this move makes sense. Most adults have access to a smartphone capable of running such apps. They’re also embedded into our everyday lives, making accessibility less of an issue.
Loyalty is Becoming an Ecosystem
UK loyalty schemes are also expanding beyond single brands. Instead of keeping rewards in a single shop, retailers are partnering with other brands to give members a reason to engage outside of the core purchase cycle.
British Airways, for example, just partnered with Olympia. Tesco Clubcard, again, has over 100+ partners, including Cineworld, RAC, Disney+, and Thorpe Park Resort. They’re not direct competitors, but they give members reasons to continually collect points and use their loyalty programme.
The logic is simple. Consumers are already subscribed to more than one loyalty scheme. So why not partner with brands, create an ecosystem, and keep them focused on your loyalty program and not others?
What This Means for UK Retailers
With 80% of consumers already actively using at least one loyalty programme, the issue isn’t getting people to sign up. The real issue is keeping them engaged. And one way retailers are approaching this is through app-led and gamified loyalty schemes.
The classic points-based system will likely remain. However, additional programmes will occur. These may include tiered programmes, paid memberships, and value-based programmes. Alongside this, there will be gamified features as well, including spending trackers, saving trackers, daily mini-games, and so forth.
With the loyalty market set to double to over $4 billion (roughly £3.2 billion) by 2030, the shift will happen quickly. Already, 60% of enterprise brands say they plan to further integrate promotions and loyalty in 2026. Therefore, we could see many retailers, from clothing shops to supermarkets and fast food chains, all hopping on this loyalty consumer wagon.
