The future of loyalty isn't another annoying app
How many store loyalty or rewards apps are on your phone right now? How many have you quietly abandoned, or deleted on purpose? Probably a lot. Why? Because they suck.
Hey! Download our app and earn points! Get a free soda! How about getting annoyed when the thing doesn't work, or you can't sign in. We'll text you a code. No, we emailed it. You forgot your password. You got a new phone and now you have to set it all up again. Reload at least $10 to get started. The inventory isn't accurate, and the store you want to order from isn't taking mobile orders right now. Fun.
The only thing more annoying than using a loyalty app is being a retailer trying to decide whether you need one. Will customers even download it? Probably not, unless you're a national chain with well over 100 stores. Will they use it? What's the return on the investment, and can you even measure it? Once you're convinced you need one, you'll need a boatload of money for a vendor to repackage the same app they sold the last brand, plus a laundry list of onboarding tasks for your team. Then you'll need staff to run it, while you keep paying the vendor monthly fees. All so a handful of people can claim a free product.
Here's the part that should make every retailer stop and think. A 2026 survey of 1,000 U.S. convenience store shoppers, commissioned by a technology vendor that sells loyalty programs, asked what frustrates people most about c-stores. Poor loyalty rewards? Five percent. High prices led at 49%, and long lines came next at 23%. Asked what would make them switch stores, 33% said faster checkout. Only 18% said personalized loyalty rewards. Even the people selling loyalty programs are finding that customers care more about getting in and out than about earning points.
Thankfully, this is coming to an end. New technology is about to let stores meet customers where they already spend their time, instead of asking them to download one more app. Personal AI agents are real, and they're going to become everyday products quickly. How we deal with stores is about to become far more hands-off.
Picture someone in the not-so-distant future getting into a fully automated car. "I'm starving. Let's grab lunch on the way to my 1:30 meeting. Something quick." The agent in the car already knows what its passenger likes to eat, because it has the history. It suggests Pret: he likes the egg salad sandwich, it's healthy and fast, and he can grab a coffee for the meeting (this guy needs an afternoon coffee). It checks with Pret, and Pret answers: "We're open, we have egg salad sandwiches, and since this is your second visit this week, you get 10% off."
No app. No password. No points balance. The discount found him.
Customers are more ready for this than you'd think, as long as it's on their terms. In the same survey, 57% said they'd trust AI to recommend personalized deals based on their purchase history, and only 7% said they'd rather get the same generic offers as everyone else. But just 25% were excited about AI using their location or travel patterns. People are fine with help built on what they chose to share; they get uneasy when it reaches for more. Half also said a store becomes "too automated" once they can't easily reach a real person.
For that future to work, your store has to be able to answer the agent. That means it has to know what's actually on your shelves, what it costs today, whether you're open, and what deal you're running right now. Most independent stores can't answer any of that online. The chains can, and that's why AI already sends people to them.
Instead of pressing buttons, hunting for passwords, and digging two-factor codes out of the spam folder, we're going to have systems that help us find the right product at the right price, time and place. The stores that win won't be the ones with the best app. They'll be the ones that can answer when the agent asks.