FINANCIAL SERVICES: Credit and debit issuers will continue to reflect on how to evolve their loyalty program value propositions in a challenging regulatory environment. With high levels of negative public opinions of the banking industry, issuers will have to navigate carefully as they make changes to existing rewards programs. Among forward-thinking banks, we may see a trend toward the simplification of the loyalty options they provide cardholders, rather than the adoption of annual fees for reward cards.
RETAIL: Strong growth will continue in loyalty efforts. For example, the executive teams of two major retailers — Walgreens and Rite Aid — have already said publicly that they will launch customer loyalty programs. Retailers continue to increase efforts to leverage customer insights from loyalty programs in ways that move well past simple marketing applications.
TRAVEL: Some airlines and hotels will start to gather the fruits of their efforts to improve their rewards and benefits. For example, several companies such as Hyatt, Marriott and Delta, have re-engineered many of their elite membership benefits to encourage frequent travelers to consolidate their travel activities with just their brands. As the economy begins to improve in 2010, many of the loyalty leaders in the travel industry will be well positioned to capture an even greater share of the frequent traveler’s business as companies start to loosen travel and entertainment budget restrictions. — SOURCE: COLLOQUY
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