What brand loyalty means to consumers Australia 2022

In a survey conducted in December 2022 among Australian consumers on what brand loyalty means to them, around 55 percent of those surveyed indicated that buying from the same brand was their way of staying loyal to a brand. Approximately 35 percent of respondents also said they expressed their loyalty to a brand by continuing to purchase from the brand despite cheaper products or services available from a competitor.

Loyalty program usage in Australia

Loyalty program enrollment has been relatively high over the past few years, with 90 percent of Australian consumers reporting that they were enrolled in at least one loyalty program as of the first quarter of 2023. Loyalty program usage was the highest in New South Wales and Victoria, with over 30 percent of active loyalty program members based in New South Wales. The quality of loyalty programs is key in member engagement, with around two-thirds of Australia’s loyalty program users reporting shopping more frequently and spending more with brands that have a good program. Successful loyalty program engagement strategies include gamification through, for example, challenges, multipliers, spin-the-wheel games, progress bars, so consumers can track their reward and points accumulation, and loyalty tiers, encouraging customers to aspire to advanced reward levels and benefits.

Supermarket and airline loyalty

Supermarket reward programs, as well as frequent flyer memberships, were the leading types of loyalty programs engaged with by Australian consumers in 2022. Coles Flybuys, Woolworths Everyday Rewards, Qantas Frequent Flyer, and Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer programs are some of the most popular loyalty schemes among Australia’s loyalty program users. In 2022, members of the Coles Flybuys and/or Woolworths Everyday Rewards programs reported primarily using their supermarket loyalty points to get cashback off groceries. Furthermore, in January 2023, Qantas’ Frequent Flyer program was ranked in 13th place among the most valuable airline loyalty programs worldwide, estimated to be worth over four billion U.S. dollars. Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program was in the top 35, with a value of just shy of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.