05/29/2026
Loyalty programs have been adapting to commerce shifts since the 1930s, when consumers collected stamps for purchases and cashed them in for free products. They survived the transition from physical ID cards kept in a wallet to digital memberships on your phone. Loyalty programs, just like the broader retail space they concentrate in, keep evolving.
The Drum |
As AI compresses the shopping journey and threatens onsite ad surfaces, commerce media columnist Kiri Masters argues that loyalty programs are becoming the asset that keeps the whole retail media flywheel spinning, not just the data layer underneath it.