As 2025 rapidly approaches, the convergence of technology and loyalty programs promises to reshape the retail landscape.
Experts predict that advancements in AI, data analytics, and real-time marketing will be pivotal in driving customer engagement, offering new forms of rewards and personalising the shopping experience.
Let’s dive into the key trends poised to redefine loyalty in the coming years:
Trend 1: Approaching real-time marketing and customer engagement
One major shift Eagle Eye CEO Tim Mason expects to see increasingly refined real-time marketing and customer engagement. This will affect issuance and redemption of offers, making loyalty marketing more immediate and effective.
“Advances in cloud computing and AI have increased businesses’ ability to collect and analyse data in real-time, enabling the creation of contextually relevant offers tailored to individual customer needs,” he says.
Mason highlights the significance of “real-time issuance” and “real-time redemption.” Real-time issuance refers to the instant creation and delivery of personalised offers based on a customer’s behaviour, location or activity. Real-time redemption ensures that these offers are applied immediately at the point of sale, both in-store and online. Mason predicts that by 2025, these capabilities will become commonplace, making loyalty marketing faster and more effective than ever before.
“Given this is now possible, we expect to see the speed of the delivery of offers increasing and we are likely to see more brands take on true real-time marketing.”
Trend 2: Expansion of reward partnerships
In the loyalty program arena, the focus is shifting from traditional single-brand rewards to more diverse, third-party partnerships. Sarah Jarvis, Communications and Propositions Director at Eagle Eye, expects loyalty programs to move towards ecosystems of rewards that span multiple brands and industries. The goal: to create more flexible, everyday redemption options for consumers.
A prime example of this shift is Westpac’s partnership with Woolworths, allowing customers to convert loyalty points into grocery rewards. Jarvis believes that such collaborations will become more widespread, with brands offering more complex ecosystems that cater to the growing demand for flexible and diverse rewards.
“This trend is expected to accelerate as programs seek to increase everyday engagement and attract ‘burn chasers’, highly engaged customers who actively accumulate points for specific partner redemptions,” Jarvis says.
However, this trend comes with increased operational complexity and costs, suggesting that successful programs will need sophisticated real-time partner management systems to handle these expanded ecosystems effectively.
Trend 3: Personalised loyalty and retail media integration
Another trend in the retail landscape according to Eagle Eye’s APAC Vice President Jonathan Reeve is integrating personalised loyalty programs with retail media, the marketing to consumers at or near their point of purchase, like in-store or online advertising.
In 2025, the most successful retailers will likely leverage loyalty data to create hyper-targeted, personalised advertising experiences across both physical and digital channels.
“The top retail media performers, those generating more than 0.5% of sales through retail media, are differentiated by their strategic use of loyalty program data and personalisation capabilities,” he says.
This integration is being driven by three key factors: the ability to deliver precision targeting across both physical and digital channels, access to rich first-party customer data, and the capability to optimise campaigns in real-time.
Campaigns like Woolworths’ Disney Collectibles and Southeastern Grocers’ SEGConnects are dynamic examples of how loyalty data can enhance the effectiveness of retail media. Going forward, AI-driven technologies will optimise campaigns in real-time, delivering more precise targeting and increasing sales impact.
Trend 4: Adapting coalition loyalty programs to strategic partnerships
Traditional coalition loyalty programs, which rely on a large number of partner brands, are increasingly seen as outdated.
Aaron Crowe, Regional Director at Eagle Eye, Asia says: “With Loyalty New Zealand closing earlier this year and more organisations having access to technology and capabilities allowing them to create their own programs, traditional models appear to be under threat,” Crowe says.
In 2025, Crowe expects coalition programs to prioritise fewer, more impactful partnerships – such as collaborations between fashion retailers and travel companies – that align with customers’ interests and lifestyles.
“These partnerships will include data sharing for enhanced personalisation, will balance immediate and long-term rewards, and strive to create seamless customer journeys,” he says.
Trend 5: The rise of gamification and challenge offers
Gamification is set to play a larger role in loyalty programs as businesses look to drive engagement through fun, interactive challenges. According to Reeve, challenge offers – goal-oriented tasks that incrementally lead to rewards – are particularly effective at influencing consumer behaviour and boosting shopping frequency.
“These game-like experiences can alter spending behaviours, such as increasing purchase frequency, encouraging product trials and growing basket sizes. We see challenges driving new behaviours at locations like Carrefour across Europe and Tesco in the UK,” Reeve says.
“Undoubtedly we expect to see more retailers in Australia and Asia-Pacific add gamification to their loyalty programs to benefit from this highly effective strategy.”
Trend 6: AI-driven retail: Predictive and generative technologies
If AI didn’t revolutionise the retail sector in 2024, retailers will certainly feel it in 2025.
Mason says that with generative and predictive AI expected to majorly change retail across supply chains, marketing, the omnichannel experience and beyond, 2025 will likely see strong adoption from leading brands.
“According to one study, AI adoption in retail is expected to surpass 80% in the next three years. Additionally, predictive and prescriptive analysis investments are expected to double over the same period of time,” he says.
Customer expectations are changing – they expect more personalisation in their shopping experiences. The trend is towards a seamless omnichannel experience, integrating both physical and digital elements. Meanwhile, demand forecasting, price optimisation and personalisation will also benefit from increasingly sophisticated AI models.
Generative AI will enable retailers to create personalised content at scale, enhancing customer interactions with automated, tailored marketing messages. Predictive AI will help brands forecast demand, optimise pricing and deliver more accurate personalisation.
As AI technologies continue to mature, retail companies that embrace these innovations will be better positioned to meet the evolving expectations of consumers, particularly in delivering seamless omnichannel experiences.
Looking ahead
The loyalty industry is already undergoing significant transformation, driven by the rapid adoption of advanced technologies such as AI, real-time data analytics and gamification. As brands increasingly focus on hyper-personalisation, flexible reward ecosystems, and strategic partnerships, the key to success will be the ability to leverage data and technology to create seamless, engaging experiences that keep customers loyal and actively participating.
Retailers that embrace these trends will lead the charge in delivering innovative loyalty experiences that resonate with the next generation of consumers.
