Reward redemption behaviour in retail loyalty schemes

In most retailer loyalty schemes, cardholders obtain ‘points’ based on their purchases. These points may be redeemed for rewards. This paper uses individual cardholder transaction records from a leading UK retailer and a related qualitative study to investigate this redemption behaviour. It provides a description and taxonomy of reward redemption behaviour, including non-redemption. Amongst those that do redeem points, different types of redemption behaviour are found. Cluster analysis produced a three cluster solution. Explanations of this behaviour and the taxonomy are developed through the qualitative research. Implications for loyalty scheme management and research into loyalty schemes are identified.