The Loyalty NewswireJune 23, 2025

The Loyalty Newswire from The Wise Marketer

From the Editor

We have lots of grocery updates this week, as well as news of five separate loyalty program launches, plus the refreshment of GM Rewards.

We also offer you a final chance to attend this week’s CRMC Webinar hosted by The Wise Marketer featuring Bombas and Simon Data. The event is set for Wednesday, June 25, 1 pm ET. You can learn more about the topic and register here.

As you browse the New this week, don’t miss the article about how Pay.com.Au launched a B2B platform designed to help businesses earn rewards on payments that traditionally went unrewarded. It’s reportedly turned into a $300M per year business!

As always, we are here to help you succeed. Let us know how we can help.

Bill Hanifin, Managing Editor, The Wise Marketer

Short Takes

Don’t miss this week’s highlighted Webinar – June 25, 1 pm ET

A new CRMC Webinar Series featuring Michelle DeStein, Director of Growth Marketing at Bombas, and Kelly Sullivan, Customer Success Lead at Simon Data. Join as they explore how Bombas leverages customer identity and advanced segmentation to build lasting customer relationships. Learn more and register here.

New Loyalty Program Announcements

Kroger Extends Retail Media Network to In-Store Screens

Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM), the retail media business of Kroger, is leveraging technology from Barrows Connected Stores to let participating brands deliver animated content in the store. A new digital in-store platform built by Barrows Connected Store features digital screens built into sleek, integrated fixtures and supports campaign execution, which can be combined with Kroger Precision Marketing’s sales measurement capability.

“At Kroger Precision Marketing, we see the physical store as one of the most underutilized platforms for brand storytelling,” said Christine Foster, senior VP of Kroger Precision Marketing. “This is not about retrofitting TVs to walls. It’s about bringing inspiration into the in-store shopping experience — seamlessly and meaningfully. The result is a deeper level of omnichannel connectivity within the customer journey.”

Giant Eagle Shares Repeatable Loyalty Frameworks to Retain Customers

Ryan Draude, head of loyalty and digital at Giant, drew from his background in hospitality to share repeatable loyalty frameworks at Progressive Grocer’s recent GroceryTech event in Dallas. Giant is part of Ahold Delhaize and which operates 164 retail stores.

Describing today’s grocery reality, Draude said that “while securing the high-frequency, high-spend customers may be the most desirable, the reality is more shoppers today spread out their trips”, continuing “although trips are increasing, average order volume isn’t following suit, and value-driven shoppers are willing to shop at an average of 3.3 grocery brands”. Read the interview here.

Harvard Business Review and Talon One Publish Personalization Study

According to Getting Strategic About Incentives (available in the CLMP™ VAULT), new research carried out by Harvard Business Review and sponsored by Talon. One, far too many brands are still failing to implement a personalized loyalty program when it comes to promotions and loyalty.

The study of 420 respondents at organizations with promotions strategies found that only 56% of those surveyed say their organization currently runs personalized promotions or discounts, as opposed to mass discounting, for example. There remains a stubborn cohort of almost one in four (22%) at businesses who have no plans to personalize promotions or discounts, while 17% say they don’t personalize offers but plan to start doing this soon.

Tips for Independent Convenience Retailers

The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) reports there are 152K convenience stores in the US, 60% of which are single-store operators. The needs of single-store and independent operators with more than one store are vastly different from larger chains. That’s why it is important that Convenience Store News operates a website geared for independents and hosts information summits for operators.

At the most recent Virtual Summit, panelists addressed Loyalty Do’s and Don’ts to help retailers navigate the plethora of technology and opinions available to them. You can read the entire list here, but the top tips were to triage technology by what works for your market and your customer base. There was also a recommendation to invest in training and incentivizing employees in support of customer strategy. Sounds like good ideas to us, and this article aligns with current best practices.

Trends & Predictions for 2025 – AI Search, SEO, & Content Marketing

The search landscape has changed more over the last 12 months than it has since the inception of search engines. Google’s AI Overviews (AIO), answer engines like Perplexity, and shifting success metrics have created challenges and opportunities unlike anything seen before.

This guide from Conductor cuts through the noise with actionable insights on what to prioritize—and what to ignore—as you navigate this transformed digital ecosystem. The report collates insights from industry leaders to help you prosper in changing times. Report also available for CLMP™’s in the VAULT.

Luxury Credit Card Rivalry Heats up Between Amex and JPMorgan Chase

While some card issuers are concerned about consumer sentiment, others are ramping up efforts to satisfy their most affluent cardholders. In the past week, JPMorgan Chase announced a planned refreshment of its Sapphire Reserve card, the travel and dining rewards card that went viral when it arrived in 2016.

Soon thereafter, American Express said that “major” changes were coming to its consumer and business Platinum cards later this year. The expectation among industry experts is that both companies will offer ever-longer lists of perks in travel, dining, and experiences like concerts, while potentially raising their annual fees.

Loyalty Program Spotlight: Enhanced GM Rewards™ program

My GMC Rewards has been redesigned and relaunched with a new name, GM Rewards. The updated program features enhanced benefits like no limits on how many points members can earn as well as other exclusive benefits. Points can be used towards the purchase of a new vehicle, to reduce the balance on your GM cobrand card account, or to pay for GM Certified Service at the dealer.

You can read the full Terms and Conditions here. We must say that seeing in bold letters at the top “THESE TERMS CONTAIN AN ARBITRATION CLAUSE, CLASS ACTION WAIVER AND JURY TRIAL WAIVER” distracted our attention from the enhanced benefits we wanted to learn all about. But that is what the T&Cs are all about. Now it’s up to the marketers to get members excited once again!

ICYMI: New CMO Council Report: The Pathway to GenAI Competitive Advantage

Is Your Data Prepared to Unlock GenAI’s Business Value? This new report from the CMO Council will help you answer that question. GenAI is on the verge of accelerating functional effectiveness and competitive differentiation. Nearly 4 in 5 business leaders believe GenAI will deliver a competitive advantage over the next 18 months, but not everyone will be able to reap the benefits, as 3 in 5 leaders aren’t confident in their data-AI readiness to achieve GenAI value.

This report examines how GenAI might shape, impact, and influence the way data is used for competitive advantage if properly prepared and primed. Findings are based on a global survey of more than 170 business and functional leaders across industries and geographies and in-depth interviews with GenAI experts. Download your copy of the report to see how your GenAI data readiness stacks up amongst your peers.

The 3 Types of Empathy and How to Increase Them in Your Relationships

Empathy may help us cooperate better with others, derive more satisfaction from our romantic relationships, and adopt more positive attitudes toward stigmatized groups. In a larger sense, it can spur us to action to improve the world. Marketers have been talking about empathy as a tool to connect with customers and enhance personalization efforts.

If you want to apply any aspect of “empathy” to your marketing campaigns, this article will educate you on the three types of empathy and share nuances of how humans put each to use. Cognitive, Emotional, and Compassionate empathy are the three types. As marketers, we often battle between terms, but is it time for Empathy to replace Emotion as the key aspect of making strong connections between brand and customer?

Please Subscribe to our “Wise and Weekly” Newsletter, published each Friday.