Loyalty & Rewards

INNOVATION AND GROWTH

South Africa remains one of the world’s most mature loyalty markets, with the increasing cost of living making these programmes more and more important for South Africans grappling with financial strain. They’re equally important for brands seeking to differentiate themselves in a crowded and globalised market, with well-de ned, targeted loyalty initiatives providing a distinct competitive edge. They also represent a well of zero- and first-party data – essentialin a post-privacy world.

In this issue of Loyalty and Rewards, we look at how brands can use that data to build an understanding of their customers that can guide business strategy across the board. It’s also core to the evolution of loyalty programmes into integrated, customer relationship management-powered ecosystems. Then there are implications of privacy legislation, such as the Protection of Personal Information Act, with data minimisation and consent management now crucial to any loyalty offering.

With loyalty increasingly linked to company strategy, we unpack how business objectives are considered when designing an effective programme, along with the key questions brands need to answer to ensure said programme advances these objectives.

In South Africa’s evolving township economies, consumer objectives are shaped by survival, which, in turn, shapes the notion of loyalty and how brands must earn it through trust, adaptability and consistent value. In this and other environments, collaboration between brands is helping to deliver better value to consumers, leading to the creation of cross-vertical ecosystems that are more – flexible and have greater market reach.

All of this comes with tax considerations, unfortunately, which have been fundamentally reshaped in the past five years, so we outline what brands and consumers need to be aware of across the board.

It’s a complicated space, no doubt, but also a hotbed of innovation and growth in an economy that severely needs both.

Anthony Sharpe, Editor