New leaders emerging in customer loyalty says MIT Sloan review
Businesses should learn from complaints
$3.4 billion invested in AI

Businesses should be encouraging customers to complain, and they should be ready and willing to resolve complaints before word-of-mouth criticism does significant damage. Read more ...

Wishing a good journey to Marriott Bonvoy
Combined hotel loyalty programme finally given a name
Marriott will officially launch the Bonvoy name for its combined loyalty programme this week, with a launch date for the apps and online stuff of February 13th. Read more ...

Air Canada completes purchase of Aeroplan
Aimia “in the enviable position of having unrestricted cash of over half a billion dollars” says chairman
Aimia plans for the cash outlined Read more ...

Australian card issuers compete with card linked offers
Issuers work hard to keep cardholders loyal with points bonuses

A variety of card linked offers are available already this year in the Australian market so far, but be warned – its complicated. Read more ...

US$1m reward for transformative idea for 5G
And don't forget to enter your million dollar winner in The Loyalty Magazine Awards (entries close Feb 14th)

A telco company is offering a US$1 million reward for the person who comes up with a truly transformative 5G application. Read more ...

Business travellers believe loyalty rewards are a right
Company policy often a sticking point
It is easy to forget that customer loyalty is not always in the control of the person earning the points.
Ask any parent whose child is saving for a collectable and they will certainly agree.

In business travel, it is even more complex. Read more ...

Mastercard name dropped from branding
Preparing for when ‘card’ is no longer relevant to payments
In 1966 it was called Interbank, then in 1968 it became mastercharge. Read more ...

Big payment names join up for missguided mission
Payments provider Klarna, SaaS platform Poq and online payment platform Stripe have joined forces to provide pay-later provision to shoppers wanting to try before they buy. Read more ...

The worst (and best) of the short-hauls
An “unrepresentative survey of just 8,000 people” voted
Read more ...

M&S appoints from loyalty elite Read more ...

Positive predictions - hooray!
Technology industry will be OK
No GDPR 4% fines expected in 2019
Brexit will get sorted
Reality check: hacking will continue What a great way to start the new year. Semafone, a provider of data security and compliance solutions for contact centres, takes an optimistic view of the outlook for the technology industry in 2019 and we like his predictions so much we have published them in full. Read more ...

Feeling strong? Here are the predictions for 2019
Making predictions for the coming year is always fraught with danger, but this year it is even more complicated – for myriad reasons ranging from political and economic through to technology and changing behaviours. However, there is no shortage of people prepared to take a gamble. Here is a selection of those that caught our eye: Read more ...

What you might have missed - 2 - FREE ACCESS
Winning coalitions will become marketplaces
Charles (Chuck) Ehredt is CEO of Currency Alliance, an organisation intent on becoming the global marketplace for loyalty collaboration. He talked to Annich McIntosh about the progress they have made, his vision for loyalty and why the industry has started accelerating its evolution. Read more ...

What you might have missed - 1 - FREE ACCESS
Charting the progress of travel loyalty to an unknown destination -
In a series of exerpts over the forthcoming holiday, we share some of the articles published in our printed magazine that got people talking.

Where is Loyalty going? And how long is it going to take to get there? These are questions that absorb the minds of all those working in loyalty. Read more ...

SPECIAL REPORT: Chinese payment giants “light years ahead”
Customer loyalty chief tenet of model
Alipay acceptance at 7-Eleven
US$15.5 trillion in mobile payments in 2017

China has embraced mobile payments with such enthusiasm, the rest of the world appear to be technology deniers. Alipay and WeChat, the main protagonists, score in terms of technology, user friendliness, number of users and ubiquity. Their data analytics are central to everything they do.
Read more ...

Ride sharing companies fight with perks
Growing competition leads to raft of new offerings
Uber rewards power users
Profile of Uber, Lyft, South African minicab programme, Careem battle with Pepsi
Why is it that after decades when cab drivers have treated their passengers with disdain verging on rudeness, do all the cab companies now feel they need a loyalty programme?
Read more ...

So you want to know what is wrong with retail….
Scott Weavers-Wright voices his frustrations
You would think that after completing one’s second company divestment – the first one for £70m, the second undisclosed - that this particular entrepreneur would be relaxed and fairly chilled about the world. But this would be far from the truth. In fact any mention of retailers leads to a stream of consciousness about short-sightedness, lack of spirit and a lock-down mentality. Read more ...

Loyalty versus subscription: Is this a boxing match?
A growing number of companies are choosing an Amazon style subscription model rather than loyalty rewards. Does this make business sense? A service provider argues her case with Loyalty Magazine.

Loyalty cryptocurrency wants to disrupt the existing order
Expansion into major world markets with blockchain
Too many loyalty programmes chasing the same customers is an argument put forward for the huge interest in marketplaces. Add blockchain into the equation to deal with the infrastructure functionality and security, plus a cryptocurrency to add consumer excitement and a hint of gamification and some are arguing that this has the potential to disrupt the loyalty business. Read more ...

Department store bankruptcy –
What it feels like from the consumer perspective

Finding the sweet spot of investing in loyalty
How much is too much?

Article by Christopher Treadwell, Avios Commercial Director

Loyal customers are often your biggest source of income. Indeed, it can cost 16 times more to elevate a new customer to the same level of profitability as a loyal customer.  However, today, businesses are facing ever-more demanding customers. Read more ...

Open banking opening up business
Removal of friction helps build customer loyalty
Even though it’s early days for open banking there are already plenty of trailblazers offering new services, writes Huw Davies, CCO, Token, many of which are building loyalty. Read more ...

Nailing travel loyalty in the basic economy age

With increased competition and choice between airline experiences, what are the implications for loyalty?
In an era of pounds spent, not miles flown currency accrual, lower fares will undoubtedly have an impact on flyer loyalty – the question is, how should airlines react?

Article by Peter Gerstle, Head of Travel Products at Collinson Read more ...

Book Review
Blockchain Loyalty - disrupting loyalty and reinventing marketing using cryptocurrencies

I remember the first time someone introduced me to Bitcoin and the concept of the blockchain for keeping data secure. It was some time ago now and it seemed crazy, but I have watched while the world fell in love with the idea, which has developed and matured as any precious and capricious child.

Blockchain is now beginning to grow up into a very impressive adult indeed, even outside of currency. Read more ...

Soundbytes from The Loyalty Surgery 2018 – Part One

Insight from Bryan Pearson, LoyaltyOne and Uma Talreja, Raymond Rewards India
Warning: Danger from consumer rights to data portability -
Agreement: Loyalty is going to stay relevant

The ancient walls of the Tower of London provided an atmospheric venue for the 2018 Loyalty Surgery. Surrounded by centuries of turbulent history, it was interesting that we were talking about change, new challenges and loyalty at the crossroads, with plenty of decisions to be made about its future direction. Read more ...

Fast, slick and imaginative -
Chuck Ehredt reviews some of this year's Loyalty Magazine Awards winners and discusses trends 2019

However much you think you know about a topic, some things will still surprise you. That’s been my feeling as I mull over this year’s Loyalty Magazine Awards, where Currency Alliance was proud to be Prime Sponsor. You can see the full list of winners here. Read more ...

Open access: democratising travel loyalty
A three-step plan to creating a broader and more profitable customers base for your travel rewards programme.

Travel schemes must democratise loyalty by considering new and 'low value' members as well as high worth ones, argues Peter Gerstle, head of travel products at global loyalty and benefits company Collinson. Read more ...

Winners announced from a truly global Loyalty Magazine Awards 2018
People travelled from all over the world to attend the special Gala Awards Evening for The Loyalty Magazine Awards, making it a truly global event.

Attendees arrived from South Africa, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, the US, India, The United Emirates, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Russia, The Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, China and many other countries to learn which companies achieved the accolade of being a Loyalty Magazine Awards winner. Read more ...

Loyalty at the crossroads
We know all the buzz phrases: ”The emergence of the digitally native competitor (i.e. Amazon)”, "There are more data than bricks & mortar”, "Omnichannel is being overshadowed by omnipresent”....

What does it all mean?  Discuss these issues with expert speakers at the Loyalty Surgery – www.theLoyaltySurgery.com – in London on June 20.
Read more ...

Will CSR re-invigorate the loyalty industry?
Aware of the trend toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Loyalty, a group of industry veterans have established For Good Causes.

The social enterprise aims to provide a service cross the industry for programmes to leverage to improve social impact and tap into the goodwill between charities and their supporters. For Good Causes founder Crispin Rogers describes how. Read more ...