Coffee Consumers Leaving Millions of Dollars of Loyalty Card Rewards Unclaimed

Coffee loyalty cards. Creative Commons photo by Nick Webb.

While coffee consumers are increasing their participation in loyalty programs, they are also leaving millions of dollars worth of drinks unclaimed, according to new research from a British tech company.

CloudZync, the creator of the smart mobile wallet, Zwallet, says that UK consumers annually earn approximately £143.9 (approximately $231 million USD) worth of coffee shop loyalty points, the equivalent of more than 65 million cups of coffee. However, their research suggests that approximately 2.4 million worth of those cups go unclaimed.

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The company polled 2,000 British consumers, finding that 42 percent of people currently hold one or more loyalty cards for coffee shops, including 33 percent of people with some kind of smart loyalty program on their mobile devices. Consumers told CloudZync that the main reasons they don’t claim freebies or discounts to coffee loyalty programs are because they feel it takes too long to start earning rewards (27 percent), because they forget their cards (18 percent), and because they forget to add points at the point of purchase (14 percent).

“It’s not just consumers that are losing out on unclaimed loyalty cards points, retailers are also missing the opportunity to build stronger and more loyal relationships with their customers,” says CloudZyn co-founder Andrew Smith. “The mobile revolution is already starting to have a profound impact on loyalty schemes.  The smartphone in most consumer pockets now offers a much easier way to track loyalty, but it also offers merchants a unique opportunity to engage and increase the loyalty of their customers.”

Smith says the research may be especially valuable to independent coffee retailers, as 3/4 of the consumers polled said they visit independent shops.