How Value Exchange Platforms Improve Grocery Customer Loyalty

What’s the biggest fallout from grocery inflation?

The distance between loyal customers and lapsed customers is shortening.

With prices rising and patience shrinking, shoppers have become more selective about where they spend (and quicker to switch when a retailer no longer meets their perceived needs). 

Loyalty, once built on habit and proximity, is now increasingly fragile.

According to Salesforce’s latest Connected Shoppers Report, high prices are the number one reason consumers switch brands, with 66% of brand-hoppers citing cost as their primary motivation.

That stat should give every grocer pause—especially as global tariffs threaten to extend pricing pressure well into the next fiscal year and beyond.

But price alone doesn’t tell the full story. 

Loyalty expectations are also being reshaped by programs like Walmart+, Metro’s Moi Rewards, PetSmart Treats, and Amazon Prime. These programs are raising the bar with enhanced convenience, personalization, and long-term value.

As shoppers become conditioned to expect more than just discounts, a strong loyalty offering is no longer just a marketing function. It’s become a strategic differentiator. 

To retain modern shoppers, grocers need loyalty programs that are more precise, more predictive, and more purpose-built than ever before.

A Closer Look at Loyalty Under Pressure

In addition to highlighting that price is the top reason consumers switch brands, Salesforce’s Connected Shoppers Report also emphasizes a widening gap between what consumers want from loyalty programs and what many retailers currently deliver. 

While the vast majority of shoppers still participate in loyalty programs, many aren’t fully engaged. More than a third of those who signed for a program said they haven’t used their memberships in the past six months.

This signals a gap—not in interest, but in execution.

The disengagement is especially prevalent among younger consumers. Gen Z and Millennials are not only more price-sensitive but also more responsive to programs that deliver tangible, immediate value.

That’s why grocers can’t rely on old models—weekly flyers, static coupons, or generic point systems—to keep these customers around. Retention requires something more adaptive: a system that listens, learns, and meets shoppers where they are.

Loyalty Models Built for Retention and Relevance

That means grocers need to reframe loyalty as a value exchange platform. 

A value exchange platform is exactly what it sounds like: a system in which customers receive meaningful benefits in return for their engagement, data, or repeat business. It’s a two-way relationship, in which loyalty is earned not assumed.

This requires moving beyond transactional rewards and toward experiences, personalization, and data-informed engagement that feels genuinely rewarding to customers. The loyalty models that are working—exemplified in the programs  we mentioned earlier—can be categorized into three directions: tiered, experiential, and paid.

Tiered 

Tiered programs—like those from PetSmart or Macy’s—give shoppers the sense of earning their way into exclusive benefits. 

Grocers can adopt similar frameworks, offering ascending levels of perks such as enhanced discounts or free online pickup based on behavior over time. These tiers reinforce frequency and create a sense of progression that keeps shoppers invested.

Experiential

Experiential programs lean into lifestyle and engagement rather than just discounts. 

Whether it’s early access to limited-time deals or gamified digital punch cards, these strategies resonate particularly well with younger demographics who seek interactive, mobile-first shopping experiences.

Paid

Finally, paid memberships—as exemplified by Amazon Prime and Walmart+—offer consistent, recurring value in exchange for a small upfront fee. 

In return, retailers get better retention, richer data, and more opportunities to personalize the experience. These programs are quickly gaining traction in grocery as a way to provide ongoing value while creating a predictable revenue stream.

Activation: The Underrated Loyalty Challenge

Tiered, experiential, and paid loyalty models are proving successful because they constantly incentivize action—not just initial enrollment—through engagement.

This is crucial. Grocers have to remember that activation is not a one-time event. It’s an ongoing process baked into the loyalty experience itself. 

As part of reframing how they think about loyalty, retailers also need to recognize that slippage isn’t a hidden win. It’s a signal that something isn’t working. A discount that isn’t visible at checkout, a reward that’s too hard to redeem, or a benefit that never surfaces when it matters erode trust and diminish the perceived value of a program.

High-performing loyalty platforms make value obvious and effortless. They surface rewards in the right moment and context—during checkout, in the shopping cart, or through personalized reminders aligned to past behavior. The shopper doesn’t have to hunt for benefits or wonder if they’re getting the most out of the program. The value finds them.

And in grocery, that consistency is critical. 

With weekly purchase cycles and high-frequency categories, even small breakdowns in activation can accumulate quickly. Over time, they lead to disengagement, lost data, and reduced retention.

That’s why engagement is more than just a campaign metric. It’s a strategic opportunity to grow relationships with customers and deliver real, compounding value across the customer lifecycle. 

How to Develop a Customer-first Loyalty Program

To turn engagement into a lasting relationship with today’s consumers, grocers need loyalty strategies that prioritize the shopper’s needs at every touchpoint. That means building systems that are not only functional but truly customer-first.

Here are five ways to do it.

1. Make Personalization Practical and Predictive

Effective loyalty starts with relevance. 

Instead of generic offers, grocers should focus on delivering promotions based on what individual shoppers actually buy—and when.

If a shopper typically purchases strawberries every Tuesday, alert them when they are on sale. If another prefers oat milk or bulk pantry staples, prioritize those in your next offer. Personalized experiences like these reinforce value and reduce the chances that shoppers will look elsewhere.

2. Rethink Program Structure for a New Type of Loyalty

The concept of loyalty is no longer static. 

Think about how people actually shop: They float between banners, apps, and channels. They look  up products online before purchasing in-store. They buy center aisle goods through an app, but choose their own produce and meat at their nearest location. 

Your loyalty model must reflect that fluidity.

A modern program should allow for multiple engagement paths. That means both data collection (from the retailer’s perspective) and reward activation (from the customer’s perspective) should be seamless across every channel.

3. Focus on Seamless, Friction-free Engagement

The same concept can be extended to lessening friction around every interaction: Your loyalty program should work behind the scenes, not feel like an extra task.

That means integrating program visibility into every stage of the customer journey. From product discovery to checkout, across mobile, web, and in-store touchpoints, shoppers shouldn’t need to wonder whether their points applied or benefits unlocked. 

These elements should appear intuitively and automatically, reinforcing trust.

4. Use AI Thoughtfully, with the Shopper in Mind

Artificial intelligence can dramatically enhance how customer data connects to loyalty, but the messaging and communication it inspires has to remain relevant and personable.

Predictive models can identify when a shopper is at risk of churning and trigger retention campaigns before it’s too late. AI can also surface the best promotion type for a given user whether it’s a discount, a reminder, or a loyalty bonus.

The key is ensuring that AI enhances the shopper’s experience without overwhelming it. Relevance should always take precedence over volume. 

AI will help you deliver discounts, offers, and recommendations at scale. But the customer should always feel as though it’s a one-to-one relationship.

5. Measure the Right Outcomes

Traditional metrics like enrollment and redemption rates only scratch the surface. 

The most forward-thinking grocers now assess loyalty by its impact on customer lifetime value, repeat purchase rate, and program-driven revenue growth.

It’s also increasingly important to track loyalty’s contribution to broader goals, like first-party data capture or retail media monetization. 

As loyalty programs become more integrated with digital commerce infrastructure, their influence spans far beyond the marketing team.

Mercatus Helps Turns Lapsed Customers into Loyal Customers

In a market defined by pricing pressure and heightened customer expectations, grocers can no longer treat loyalty as a standalone.

It’s not just a coupon engine. It’s not just a points system. It’s a relationship strategy built on value, trust, and mutual benefit.

At its core, a customer loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to reward shoppers who engage with your brand consistently over time. These programs incentivize repeat purchases, increase customer lifetime value, and deepen emotional connection. But for them to work in today’s grocery landscape, they must evolve into dynamic, data-driven value exchange platforms—not static, one-size-fits-all structures.

That’s where Mercatus comes in.

We enable modern loyalty strategies by powering a unified digital commerce platform that connects customer data, personalized engagement, and seamless transactions—across both online and in-store channels.

With Mercatus, grocers can reward customers not just for purchases, but for meaningful interactions across the journey—from browsing and basket-building to fulfillment and follow-up.

By making loyalty both contextual and consistent, Mercatus helps grocers transform occasional shoppers into repeat buyers, and lapsed customers into loyal brand advocates.

Ready to modernize your loyalty strategy with a customer-first approach that drives measurable results.

Talk to our team today and learn how Mercatus can help your grocery business deliver value where it matters most.