Beauty, Entertainment, Food... TOP 40 rewards programs for customers in 2026
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In uncertain times, we are all looking for some guidance on what might come next and how we can prepare for those changes. One of the most effective ways to predict the future is to ask the opinion of the real loyalty industry experts—those people who understand both the short-term trends and the long-term shifts within the industry.
We spoke to Louise Hutchins, Managing Director of The Loyalty People, CCO of Swapiand former Head of Loyalty at Marks and Spencer. With over 16 years of experience, Louise is an authority on Customer Experience and Customer Strategy. She’s also a forward-thinker who believes that data must be at the heart of every business decision.
Here are her thoughts on where the loyalty in the fashion industry is today and what the coming months and years will bring:
Louise: Firstly, COVID has had a significant impact on the categories that customers are buying into with loungewear, slippers, and pajamas all seeing significant growth, as we look for comfort as our primary need. I also anticipate that value will become a primary driver for the large majority.
As we identify with our ‘New Normal’, we will see levels of focus flex in terms of need states, but I think the impact of office closures, flexible working, and the re-evaluation of how we work. For example, the formal clothing industry will be heavily impacted and will need to diversify to remain relevant.
Louise: People now have a digital-first mentality. The impact of having to wear face masks in clothing shops will impact dwell time and in-store purchases. As always, customers want a quick, convenient, and frictionless experience. Retailers should be focusing on their infrastructure and ability to deliver this expected seamless experience, both digitally and in store.
It certainly won’t be the “death of the high street” just yet, though, and we have seen a focus on local and boutique experiences, supporting smaller businesses that have been heavily impacted by the economic crisis. In order to win on the high street, brands will need to focus on how stores are used—whether this is the concept of mini distribution centers to fulfill online deliveries or examples like Alibaba in China creating a beyond purchase experience, bringing in the mentality of a theater within the store.
Louise: Ultimately, this is no different from before: stay relevant, recognize the need states of your customer, and solve for them. Identify how to elevate the so-called experiential side of your brand; be restless in creating the best customer experience; know what points differentiate you from competitors and capitalize on them.
Use a data-led customer strategy to provide a personalized experience in either CRM or Loyalty (or both).
The age-old saying ‘show me you know me’ is now an expectation from customers.
According to Salesforce, 51% (source: Forbes) of consumers expect that companies will anticipate their needs and make relevant suggestions before they make contact.
Louise: Loyalty is changing; you can no longer just provide ‘functional loyalty’ as the “basic earn-and-burn” mechanics are worn out and overused. Building a program with a greater focus on emotional benefits can significantly enhance the perception of the brand and drive customer lifetime value (CLV).
Think about charity, sustainability, community, and genuine 1:1 thank yous.
Put these alongside functional benefits that are tangible and quantifiable and you have found the sweet spot for an attractive proposition.
Louise: Ultimately, campaigns that are based on behaviors rather than sweeping generic above-the-line mass marketing.
The best in class use a data-led, analytical approach to segmenting their audiences and creating relevant triggers based on behavior. If someone has recently bought a new top, share inspiration on how they can complete their outfit; think about logical next best-action behaviors that feel personalized, and keep the customer coming back.
With loyalty in the grocery sector, there is immediate business gratification as the frequency of shopping is obviously higher.
In fashion, it’s a slower burn proposition; you want the customer to keep returning and increasing their share of wallet with you, so relevant functional benefits that make it easy to shop with you—combined with a level of emotional engagement—should keep you front of mind.
Louise: As mentioned, think about the benefits offered and ensure that you have a good blend of emotional and functional rewards to offer. Keep it simple. The more complicated a program is—and the more hoops there are to jump through—the more likely it is that customers will switch off.
Go digital. It is the future and it is expected. Plus, the more digital the behavior, the easier it is to access and understand the data.
Louise: These are exciting times to be in Loyalty and CRM.
There will be more automated personalization, hyper-sophisticated growth, and targeting models at the touch of a button, with the increased capability of machine learning. We’ll also see a broader level of benefits, with a focus on emotional rewards being the point of difference and more power in the customer’s hands.
I also see that more and more customers demand the ability to swap points across loyalty schemes and across industries.
Driving spend back into the economy is a win-win and an absolute game-changer for the industry!
Thanks to Louise for sharing her vast experience and advice on how the fashion brands can run a successful loyalty program in the post-COVID economy.
Read more: From Sephora to Dior: The ultimate guide to beauty loyalty programs.
The right model depends on margin structure and purchase frequency, not brand size alone. Get the sequencing wrong and you will likely re-architect within two years.
Use this threshold as a starting point: if gross margin sits below 40% and customers buy more than four times a year, a points-based loyalty program fits best. Every transaction should feel rewarded, and fast redemption keeps loyal shoppers coming back for the next drop.
If margin runs 40-60% and basket value swings widely between casual buyers and core repeat customers, a tiered loyalty program is a great fit. Status, not just spend, needs recognizing, and tier perks give loyal customers a reason to stay rather than shop around.
A paid loyalty program only makes sense above roughly 55% gross margin, where the brand can offer enough perceived value: free shipping, early access, exclusive product drops, to justify an upfront fee. Below that threshold, the membership fee reads as a tax, not a benefit.
We recommend mapping the decision against three variables: gross margin, average purchase frequency, and customer type (aspirational vs core repeat buyer).
Value-based models, donating a percentage of spend to a cause, or rewarding sustainable purchase behavior, are gaining traction where customer lifetime value (CLV) is driven more by brand affinity than discount-seeking - 79% of consumers say a loyalty program increases their likelihood of continuing to do business with a brand, but the mechanic that produces that lift varies sharply by category.
Across the loyalty program audits our team ran for fashion clients in 2024 and 2026, 16 of 22 brands had chosen their model before defining redemption liability or tier promotion conditions, and had to re-architect within 18 months.
Fashion retailers running a mature loyalty program typically recover 20 to 30 percent of customer acquisition cost (CAC) through repeat-purchase revenue within the first 18 months. That CAC offset is the number Finance asks for first, but it is not the only one that matters for the build-or-upgrade decision.
Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the second lever. Fashion brands with tiered or gamified loyalty mechanics saw CLV increase 25 to 40 percent versus non-members over a two-year window, according to McKinsey's State of Fashion 2025, driven largely by buyer frequency rather than basket size.
Redemption rate is the metric that separates a program members trust from one that quietly leaks value. According to Gartner's loyalty and CRM research, healthy redemption rate benchmarks for retail loyalty programs sit at 20 to 30 percent of issued points; anything materially lower signals a redemption liability building on the balance sheet, and anything higher risks eroding margin faster than frequency gains repay it.
In one Open Loyalty fashion client audit run in 2026, RFM segmentation combined with tier promotion rules lifted repeat purchase rate by 18 percent and average order value (AOV) by 12 percent within two quarters of launch Case in point, Limango: +41% average order value.
Of 14 fashion program audits our team reviewed in 2024-2025, nine were leaking value through unmonitored points expiry rules, not weak reward design. The ROI case for a loyalty program rarely fails on member appetite. It fails on operational discipline: expiry rules, redemption liability tracking, and segmentation logic that Nordy Club and Lululemon's membership program both treat as core infrastructure, not an afterthought.
A fashion loyalty program launch runs through six stages we see repeat across implementations: audit, model selection, tech stack decision, tier and reward design, launch, and redemption rate measurement. Skipping the audit is the single most common mistake we find in fashion retail engagements.
Each stage needs a named owner and a realistic timeline before kickoff, not after. Most fashion teams underestimate the CRM analyst and marketing hours required. The audit and tier design stages always take longer than planned.
For multi-country, multi-currency rollouts, lock tier thresholds and points-to-currency conversion logic before launch.
Retrofitting conversion rules after members are already enrolled is the most expensive fix we see fashion brands request.
Gamified challenges, referral programs, and tiered loyalty program structures each move a different KPI, not the same one. Treat them as separate levers, not interchangeable engagement tactics, and the redemption rate and CLV gains follow predictably.
Gamified challenges lift purchase frequency. A challenge that rewards a third purchase within 60 days, or unlocks early access to a capsule drop, targets the RFM-recency gap directly. Seasonal mechanics work especially well in fashion: a "complete the look" badge for buying a full outfit, a size/fit quiz that awards points for confirming true-to-size feedback, or a countdown challenge tied to a new-season launch.
In one Open Loyalty fashion deployment, a retailer client layered seasonal gamified challenges onto its existing points-based program and saw repeat purchase rate climb within two quarters. The mechanic works because it gives members a short-term reason to return, distinct from the long-term reward math of a tier.
Referral programs compress CAC. Fashion brands running structured referral programs report materially lower blended acquisition cost than paid marketing channels.
Cap referral rewards against redemption liability from day one. Uncapped referral point issuance, especially when paired with a great sign-up offer, is the fastest way to blow a redemption forecast.
Tiered loyalty programs raise AOV. A tiered structure signals status and unlocks better rewards at higher spend, pulling members toward the next threshold. Nordstrom's Nordy Club and the Lululemon Membership Program both pair tier-gated perks, early access to products, and community access rather than pure discounting.
Map the mechanic to the metric before adding complexity. A points balance with no expiry conditions and no tier logic keeps loyal shoppers engaged in name only, with no measurable pull on spend.
Of 14 fashion loyalty program audits we ran in 2024 and 2025, nine had no tier promotion logic tied to a KPI at all. Points accrued, but nothing pushed members toward a measurable spend threshold, and no dashboard gave the team a real-time pulse on which mechanic was actually working.
Platform integrations matter here too: if the gamification layer can't read live purchase and inventory data, challenges end up rewarding activity the catalog can't fulfill. Mapping each mechanic to one metric, not three at once, is what separates a loyalty program that moves revenue from one that just tracks points.
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