Supermarkets are best rewarders of loyalty

Supermarkets are the best organisations at rewarding loyal customers, according to the latest research from Mintel.

Almost three quarters of consumers – 72% – rated supermarkets as “good” or “very good” at recognising loyalty, either in terms of financial reward or better service.

The supermarkets’ next nearest rivals were mobile phone providers, with 36% rating them as “good” or “very good”, while 33% said the same of coffee shops and restaurants.

Just 20% of consumers felt that banks were good or very good at rewarding customer loyalty, and this dropped to 14% of credit card companies.

Toby Clark, senior financial analyst at Mintel, said: “Supermarkets are, by a very long way, the firms which are most likely to be seen as being good at rewarding their loyal customers.

“In fact, five times more consumers rate supermarkets as being ‘good or very good’ at rewarding consumers than credit card companies. In a fairly damning indictment for the financial services industry, banks, insurers and credit card companies were eighth, ninth and tenth out of the 10 types of firm listed.”

However, he added that while consumers feel that supermarkets reward loyalty, it is not reciprocated as barely anyone limits their food shopping to a single store.