Paytronix Annual Loyalty Report 2022: Members Defy Inflation by Visiting and Spending More; Loyalty Spending Highest on Record

• 55% of restaurants report that their loyalty check sizes have increased more than the price of their items.
• 5-17% of total restaurant revenue is driven by the most loyal 2-3% of customers.
• Generational shift is underway with Millennials and Gen Z picking up slack from Boomers.

Newton, MA – October 11, 2022 – Paytronix Systems, Inc., the most advanced digital guest experience platform, today published the Paytronix Annual Loyalty Report 2022, which finds loyalty programs are helping combat inflation as 55% of restaurant loyalty customers increased their average check size more than the price of the average item increases. The report also finds that anywhere from 5 to 17% of overall business revenue is driven by the most loyal 2 to 3% of customers and that younger members are driving a generational shift in age and spend across loyalty programs.  

Download the Paytronix Annual Loyalty Report 2022

This second annual Paytronix Loyalty Report examines continuing trends for restaurants and convenience stores across the loyalty landscape, including those involving visits, spend, member demographics, and program types. Key report takeaways include:

A New Spending Record: In 2021, loyalty spending hit the highest level on record, demonstrating that even with rising inflation, loyalty programs are a valuable source of revenue. Casual dining, fast-casual, ice cream/snack/coffee, and Mexican/sandwich concepts all saw the highest annual spend per guest of any year for which Paytronix has data.

Top-Tier Loyalty Members: Top loyalty guests overwhelmingly represent the highest spenders and the most frequent visitors, and they offer a lifeline during an economic downturn. At convenience stores, the top 8-10% of loyalty members visit an average of 32 times a month — more than once a day — and four times as often as the next highest tier.

Generational Shift in Age and Spend: Millennials (36-55 age range) have an outsized percentage of spend, while the baby boomers (56+ segment) have an outsized percentage of visits. The largest untapped potential lies with Gen Z, (16-35 age range), as this group has the most guests who neither visit nor spend. Both the growth in spend for Millennials and the shrinkage in spend for Baby Boomers indicate that Millennials are the future of loyalty programs.

Convenience Store Trends: The spend per check for convenience store loyalty members increased by about 25% last year, and much of it can be attributed to price increases in both fuel and in-store items. While the spend per check increased approximately 25% from 2020 to 2021, the annual spend for convenience store loyalty members increased nearly 40%. Fuel purchasers were paying more per gallon and visiting more often.

Rise of Snacking: Across all concepts, 2021 saw the highest annual spend per guest of any year for which Paytronix has data. The difference was often minimal, but the ice cream/snack/coffee segment proved an exception, as guests eagerly increased their spend by 20% between 2019 and 2021.

“The Paytronix Annual Loyalty Report shows that the potential of loyalty to build relationships between customers and their favorite brands has never been greater. Between the ongoing generational shift and the critical importance of the top tier of 2-3% of guests, it has become increasingly clear that growing cadres of loyal customers are vital for the health of brands. And the loyalty members of convenience stores who visit daily show the potential of loyalty customers to visit more often.” — Lee Barnes, Chief Data Officer, Paytronix Systems, Inc.

Methodology

All data referenced in this report is sourced from the Paytronix database of in-store and online transactions that occurred between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2021, unless otherwise noted. Only merchants continuously operating loyalty programs between 2019 and 2021 were evaluated. No categories with fewer than five brands were considered in order to preserve anonymity.

About Paytronix Systems, Inc.

Based in Newton, Massachusetts, Paytronix is a provider of SaaS customer experience management (CXM) solutions for restaurants and convenience stores. Through its innovative software design and integrations with more than 30 widely used point-of-sale systems, Paytronix empowers more than 1,800 brands across 34,000 locations, giving them the flexibility to deliver unique, revenue-enhancing guest experiences. Through one-to-one engagement with more than 225 million guests via Order & Delivery, Loyalty, CRM, and Stored Value, Paytronix delivers artificial intelligence features that motivate increased visits and spending throughout the customer journey. For more information, visit www.paytronix.com.

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