The Loyalty Newswire October 14, 2025

The Loyalty Newswire from The Wise Marketer

From the Editor

Monday was a holiday both in the US and Canada, so we are publishing our Newswire on Tuesday this week. We wish a belated Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian teammates and colleagues.

The news is quite varied this week and there are valuable metrics to glean from the stories as well as impactful research studies from Blackhawk Network, Brand Keys, Edelman, and Ingenico.

Notable is that OpenAI officially unveiled Instant Checkout within ChatGPT. We are entering the realm of Agentic Commerce, adding to the conversation about how the Google Shopping assistant will potentially disintermediate brands from their customers.

We are excited to announce the next Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional (CLMP™) workshop, hosted by our UAE Partners, QBF Consulting. The three-day CLMP™ certification program in Dubai will be held on November 18 – 20, 2025 at the Rove Downtown Hotel.

If you have any questions or would like more details, please feel free to reach out.

We are here to help you succeed. Let us know how we can help.

Bill Hanifin, Managing Editor, The Wise Marketer

Short Takes

ChatGPT Adds Instant Shopping

The landscape of e-commerce is undergoing a significant transformation as OpenAI officially unveils its new feature: Instant Checkout within ChatGPT. This latest integration empowers users to buy products directly through the chatbot interface, making the purchase process quicker, more seamless, and increasingly conversational.

Initially launched in partnership with Etsy, and with Shopify integration on the horizon, the move signifies OpenAI’s growing ambition to turn ChatGPT into more than just a conversational tool—it’s now a shopping assistant, a recommendation engine, and a one-click checkout platform all in one.

This new functionality falls under what OpenAI, and industry analysts are referring to as “agentic commerce” a model where AI doesn’t just assist in decision-making but can also carry out transactions on behalf of users. OpenAI has introduced a framework called the Agentic Commerce Protocol to facilitate this evolution.

New CRMC Webinar: Anonymous Shoppers: Goldmine or Blind Spot?

Anonymous shoppers are one of retail’s largest untapped opportunities, yet most brands struggle to engage them. Join us on November 6, 2025, 1pm ET for this discussion moderated by The Wise Marketer with Marie-Helene Cusson, Senior Director, Digital Merchandising & Analytics at RONA. Marie-Helene will share how RONA turned unknown browsers into loyal, high-value buyers with a simple, personalized, in-session approach.

RONA is a leading Canadian retailer of home improvement and construction products and services, owned by U.S.-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners. This webinar is part of the ongoing CRMC Webinar series and is sponsored by Exchange Solutions. Register here.

Brand Keys Loyalty Leaders 2025

Results of the 17th annual Brand Keys Loyalty Leaders List – an identification of the top 100 brands according to their ability to create customer loyalty – revealed a striking mix of digital innovation, entertainment platforms, and long-standing heritage brands among 2025’s leaders.

“A combination of generative AI, always-on CX, and brand experiences that consumers actually want is defining this year’s loyalty winners,” said Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys, Inc. (brandkeys.com), the New York-based loyalty and engagement research firm that conducts the annual survey. “More and more loyalty isn’t set in stone – it’s set in code!” Read the complete list here.

Love’s launches Love’s Media Group

Love’s Travel Stops announced the launch of Love’s Media Group, the first retail media network designed specifically for America’s travel stops and the first to reach professional truck drivers at scale. Love’s Media Group leverages the company’s 662 locations across 42 states to create a comprehensive advertising platform that connects brands with millions of professional drivers and everyday travelers.

Love’s Media Group transforms Love’s physical and digital assets into a unified advertising platform spanning the entire customer journey—from fuel pump screens and in-store digital signage to the Love’s Connect mobile app and My Love Rewards loyalty program. Tommy Greenberg has been named senior director, Love’s Media Group. Greenberg brings a wealth of retail media expertise from his time at Lowe’s, where he built the client services team and operational infrastructure for Lowe’s Media Network, as well as Roundel (Target Corporation).

Amazon US Membership Hits 200 Million, but it may come at a Cost

A CIRP survey in September 2025 concluded that Amazon Prime finally hit the 200-million-member mark in the US. But this milestone coincides with some offsetting news for the ecommerce giant’s flagship subscription program.

Also in September, Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle a Federal Trade Commission case over whether it duped customers into signing up for Prime and made it difficult for customers to cancel their membership. As part of the settlement Amazon will provide $1.5 billion in refunds to customers that were harmed by what FTC referred to as “deceptive Prime enrollment practices.” About 35 million Prime customers who were impacted by the practices could qualify for $51 each as part of the settlement.

Report: Liferay says 73% of Customers Skip Purchases When Digital Journeys Get Annoying

The 2025 Liferay Digital Self-Service Report, conducted in August 2025 via the third-party platform Pollfish, surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults to understand how people navigate online tasks, where friction drives abandonment, and which fixes would restore trust.

The survey exposes a costly gap between digital investment and digital experience, finding that instead of delivering speed and convenience, many customers say they feel like they’re doing the company’s work and walking away when it becomes too much. Liferay is a leading provider of Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs). Get the report here.

Dark Stores Revolutionize e-Commerce Fulfillment in MENA Region

Here’s a reality check on what is considered trendy in retail. In urban centers like Dubai, Riyadh, and Cairo, the need for near-instant delivery is growing rapidly. Consumers expect everything from groceries and personal care products to ready meals delivered to their doorsteps in under 30 minutes.

The solution is to create “dark stores”, small fulfillment centers that bridge the gap between consumers and retailers. Borrowing the same concept as “ghost stores” that became popular during the 2020 pandemic, dark stores are the retailer’s version of the concept pioneered in the restaurant category. That doesn’t lessen its importance but offers a lesson in why quickly embracing every “shiny ball” can be as much distraction as productive.

Hy-Vee Launches New Kids Club Designed to Engage with Future Shoppers

The target audience is getting younger, as Iowa based grocer Hy-Vee has launched “Kids Club” to bring smiles to little shoppers this fall with activities throughout the year to educate and engage around food and wellness.

The Hy-Vee Kids Club is open to kids of all ages. The free membership comes with a host of benefits that make shopping more enjoyable for children and their families. Kids receive personalized name tags, birthday cards with special perks, and access to exclusive treats like free cookies, fruit and stickers during store visits. Stores will regularly host themed events such as seasonal celebrations, cooking and crafts, character events and scavenger hunts.

The Wise Marketer Strategy Brief Series: The New Loyalty Playbook – Chapter Two

This Wise Marketer Strategy Brief (WMSB) was created in cooperation with ebbo and is titled “The New Loyalty Playbook.” This eBook reveals how brands can master today’s loyalty fundamentals: bridging emotional loyalty, value-based offerings, enhanced realities, and the all-important choice factor.

If your ultimate goal is to embed customer engagement within a habit loop that repeatedly delivers satisfaction, “The New Loyalty Playbook” will help build a robust framework for lasting growth and impactful results. Download it here.

New Strategy Brief: Solving the Loyalty Marketing Attribution Riddle

In the latest of our Wise Marketer Strategy Brief series, From Vision to Reality – How Loyalty Data Powers the AI Marketing Revolution, explores how loyalty programs can be the ultimate drivers to transform competitive advantages into salient returns and evolve into an enterprise-wide asset.

Our valued thought partner in the creation of this eBook is Kobie – the perfect fit for The Wise Marketer to address this heady topic. Here are some excerpts that will make you want to download this resource as fast as possible:

“In many organizations, loyalty programs still live in a shadow. This shadow is called the “cost center.” And it can blind even the best of intentions.”
“Attribution is often the Achilles’ heel of loyalty marketing.”
“AI turns loyalty from a fabled story into a verifiable dataset – one that improves with every swipe, click, or scan.”

Facebook and Instagram to Offer Subscription for No Ads in the UK

Meta is launching an ad-free subscription for Facebook and Instagram in the UK, responding to UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance on personalized advertising. For a monthly fee, users can choose an ad-free experience, with the cost being £2.99 for web access and £3.99 for mobile apps, reflecting the fees charged by Apple and Google for in-app purchases. Users who don’t subscribe will continue to see ads as normal, maintaining the existing service.

Meta said in a press release that it continues to believe in an ad-supported internet, which ensures free access to personalised products and services for all and that personalised ads help people discover relevant, new products and services while allowing British businesses to reach the customers most likely to be interested in what they offer. According to Meta, every pound spent on our ads drives on average £3.82 in revenues for those UK businesses choosing to advertise.

Co-Brand & Travel Rewards 2025 is in NYC 28-29 October 2025

Loyalty revenues have grown significantly important to airlines, hotels and travel companies and the biggest part of that comes from co-brands. Travel continues to grow – with some domestic weaknesses in some markets – but there are other headwinds emerging. Whether it’s the tax man, regulators or increasing competition from non-card payments there is plenty to learn and prepare for.

The Co-Brand and Travel Rewards event, presented by AI Connect, is a one stop shop, whether you are a loyalty program, an issuer or one of the many other players in a complex ecosystem, to connect with top presenters and industry peers. Register here.

Emotional Loyalty – Can it Be Created with a Machine?

Mental health concerns are growing globally and in many parts of the world, therapy is expensive or simply unavailable. AI shows promise in early detection and prevention. Researchers at Stanford recently experimented with large language models that can analyse journaling patterns and detect early signs of emotional distress. They found that while AI isn’t a replacement for therapy, it can help people notice patterns in their own minds before they spiral out of control.

However, risks abound. A recent investigation by The Guardian warned that therapy chatbots, though helpful to some, may foster emotional dependence or worsen symptoms in vulnerable users. Read this to explore the impact of AI on Mental Wellness.

Jobs in Loyalty

There are many talented people looking for full-time and contract positions in loyalty marketing. Fortunately, there are opportunities available from both brands and providers. We list a sampling of what we are aware of here.

Please click through the links if provided or contact us here to learn more and apply for these positions.

Epsilon – Platform Solutions Director (UK)

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