Whilst customers are reportedly leaving their favorite brands at faster rates, their willingness to remain loyal is not the central issue, as Quickfire Digital found that 96% of UK consumers are reportedly open to building a relationship with a brand.
The challenge here is that retailers can mistake short-term promotional reactivity for long-term loyalty, as customers place more value on product quality, straightforward discovery, and a consistent fulfillment experience.
To avoid this mistake, retail leaders should make the everyday shopping journey the foundation of their loyalty strategy, using rewards to reinforce the experience.
In conversation with CX Today, Martin Harper, Co-Founder at Quickfire Digital, argues that retailers should stop treating loyalty as something won through a single transaction or a rewards offer.
“It’s way more than that. It’s about looking beyond that purchase, looking at the entire customer experience start to finish," he said.
"What’s the delivery timeline about? What’s the returns experience like? What is the post-purchase experience?”
Your Loyalty Strategy Starts With Confidence
Most retailers continue to use basic marketing strategies to drive repeat purchases, overlooking the everyday experiences that determine whether customers want to return.
“Brands tend to go for a simple discount," Harper explained.
"Discount here, discount again, it becomes the incentive for email marketing that draws them in.”
While promotions can generate short-term engagement, they cannot address the broader factors influencing loyalty.
In fact, 39% of retailers reportedly identify competitive pricing as a priority, despite 31% of consumers ranking good-quality products ahead of reward programs as a loyalty driver.
One fashion retailer example, the Batra Group, argues that building loyalty starts with creating a meaningful relationship between customers and the brands they choose.
Yasamine Beheshti, Group Head of e-Commerce at Batra Group, told CX Today that brand affinity alone cannot guarantee repeat business.
“It’s about creating that emotional connection with a brand,” she said.
“People lose patience when they can’t find what they need, if they feel unsure about what they’re buying, especially when it comes to footwear or boots in particular.”
In a competitive retail market, even existing customers can be discouraged from returning to a brand if the journey becomes unnecessarily difficult.
Why Post-Purchase Is Still CX
With delivery and returns now among the most visible ways retailers demonstrate whether they can meet expectations, CX now often continues after the traditional shopping journey ends.
In fact, Quickfire Digital’s research found that 47% of consumers agree that fast, reliable delivery would encourage loyalty, yet only 19% of retailers plan to prioritize it.
This disconnect was similarly found with returns, as 29% of consumers identify free returns as a loyalty driver, compared with just 9% of retailers prioritizing returns engagement, causing possible reputational risks.
“The customer is blaming the brand for the problem, but it isn’t necessarily the brand. It’s the post-purchase experience,” Harper explained.