Customer loyalty statistics: the figures checked at the source

Customer loyalty statistics: the key figures

This table collects the customer loyalty statistics we have read in the original source, each with who measured it, among whom and in which year. The national figures are Italian; the research on stamp cards and acquisition costs is international. The sections below explain how to read each figure, and the links to the sources are at the bottom of the page.

How many people use loyalty cards in Italy?

Nine in ten Italians use at least one loyalty card: in the University of Parma Osservatorio Fedeltà’s 2025 consumer survey, 90% of 1,200 respondents said they actively take part in at least one programme, meaning they remember to use the physical or digital card when they buy. 65% actively use up to four programmes, 25% five or more and 10% none.

The survey ran online in September 2025 on the Ipsos panel, with 300 people in each of four generations, from Gen Z to Baby Boomers: the quotas are equal by age, not proportional to the population. The figure is self-reported and does not measure recorded purchases.

Active participation varies widely by sector: it is high for grocery shopping and low for personal services. For a gym or a wellness centre, 6% may mean that few businesses offer a programme or that few customers use one, and the figure cannot tell the two apart; either way, the card has to be offered in person rather than taken for granted.

Members do use their cards: between 75% of Gen Z and 84% of Gen X agree with «I always use my loyalty card when I shop», and between 71% and 76% try to use their points as soon as they can. A gift on reaching a threshold, which is how a stamp card works, is the favourite benefit among Millennials and the second favourite for Gen X and Baby Boomers, after discounts.

How many companies have a loyalty programme?

71% of the B2C companies surveyed by the Osservatorio Fedeltà in 2025 run a loyalty programme or customer club, and 22% of those without one plan to introduce it within one or two years. The share reaches 90% in retail, falls to 58% in services and to 47% among manufacturers.

Read the time series with care: it went from 60% in 2021 to 77% in 2024 and 71% in 2025, but the researchers state that the year-on-year differences are not statistically significant. 254 companies responded, including 153 brands (80% B2C) and 101 suppliers of loyalty services: for a café or a salon this is a sign of the trend, not a benchmark.

61% of these programmes collect points, 44% use a digital card and 32% a physical card (several answers were allowed); in retail the digital card, at 57%, has overtaken the physical one, at 50%. 68% of the companies calculate a proper ROI for their programme, and loyalty spending comes to a median of 1% of turnover, or 2.6% on average.

How loyal are supermarket customers?

Even with several cards in their wallets, shoppers are not very loyal to their supermarket: between 2023 and 2024, 31% of the households surveyed in Italy changed their main grocery retailer, and 45% did so between 2022 and 2024. The figure comes from the Osservatorio Fedeltà’s July 2024 survey on the Nielsen panel and covers households that answered in all three years.

83% of households belong to at least one supermarket programme and 52% to three or more; 58% of members think their own retailer’s programme is very similar to the others. 76% believe the staff know the programme well, but only 56% think the staff promote it.

For a small business the lesson is twofold: a card that looks like every other card is not enough to keep a customer, and the staff who offer it matter as much as the card itself. These are grocery figures, though, not café or salon figures: treat them as a signal, not a forecast.

Why don’t customers sign up for a loyalty card?

The reasons most often given for not signing up concern the value of the reward and the effort needed to earn it, according to the Osservatorio Fedeltà’s 2024 survey of households not enrolled in their main supermarket’s programme, a base representing 1.5 million Italian households.

Most of these reasons depend on how the card is designed: a reward people want, a threshold they can reach, a rule that fits in one sentence and a quick sign-up. The guide on how to create a loyalty card shows how to set them, and the reward calculator works out the cost per visit.

Do stamp cards work? What the research says

The most cited research on stamp cards shows that customers speed up as the reward gets closer. In a study published in 2006 in the Journal of Marketing Research, Kivetz, Urminsky and Zheng followed the «buy ten coffees, get one free» programme of a Columbia University café: from the first stamp to the last, the time between purchases shortened by 20% on average, about 0.7 days.

In the same study, 108 customers were randomly given either a 10-stamp card or a 12-stamp card with 2 stamps already filled in. Both required ten purchases, but customers with the 12-stamp card completed them in 12.7 days on average, against 15.6: almost three days sooner. The authors also note that customers who speed up most towards their first reward are more likely to stay in the programme.

These results come from a single university café in the United States: they show that a nearby reward motivates, not how many extra visits your business will get. If you give welcome stamps, say so clearly on the card.

How much more does it cost to win a customer than to keep one?

Acquiring a new customer costs five to 25 times more than keeping an existing one, according to a summary of several studies published by Harvard Business Review in 2014, which warns that the figure depends on the study and the industry. It is an order of magnitude, not a measure that holds for every business.

The second famous number, «5% more customers retained, 25% to 95% more profit», is worth reading at the source. In Bain & Company’s 2001 brief, Fred Reichheld writes that in financial services a 5% increase in customer retention produces more than a 25% increase in profit; the 25% to 95% range is the one given in the Harvard Business Review summary. Both come from industries far removed from a café or a salon.

How to tell a reliable loyalty statistic from a weak one

A loyalty statistic is reliable when you can trace who measured it, among how many people, in which year, in which country and in which industry. Many round-up pages repeat figures without linking to the original study: before you use one in a plan or a presentation, find the source.

• Who measured it: a university, a research institute or a company selling a service? A supplier’s data can be sound, but read it knowing who produced it. This page is written by a company that sells a digital loyalty card, which is why every figure has its source.
• Among whom: how many people or companies, in which country and with which method, for example an online survey, a household panel or till data.
• What it measures: observed behaviour or a stated opinion? «I always use my card» is a statement, not a recorded purchase.
• When: a figure from 2001 or 2006 can still be useful, but it should be quoted with its year.
• Where it applies: a figure about supermarkets or financial services does not automatically transfer to a café or a salon.

How to measure customer loyalty in your own business

National statistics give you context; to decide anything you need your own numbers, measured the same way for a few weeks. Four indicators are enough, and you can work them out with paper cards and a notebook or read them from a digital system.

With Iterum (by FIDUS), the visits confirmed by staff and the rewards redeemed stay recorded in the dashboard, so these calculations start from data you already have; customers open the card from the QR code without downloading an app. Iterum does not read receipts or the till, so average spend remains a figure from your own system. You can try it with the 7-day trial and find example rules in the guides for cafés, hair salons and gyms.

Compare similar periods and allow for seasonality, promotions and changes to opening hours: more stamps alone do not prove that the card brought in extra visits.

Sources and method

Sources consulted on 8 October 2026: Osservatorio Fedeltà, University of Parma, «La Ricerca Consumer 2025», proceedings of the 25th conference, October 2025; Osservatorio Fedeltà, «La Ricerca Aziende 2025», same proceedings; Osservatorio Fedeltà, white paper «Generazioni a confronto», January 2026; Osservatorio Fedeltà on the Nielsen Consumer Panel, 2024 survey; Kivetz, Urminsky and Zheng, «The Goal-Gradient Hypothesis Resurrected», Journal of Marketing Research, February 2006; Amy Gallo, «The Value of Keeping the Right Customers», Harvard Business Review, 29 October 2014; Fred Reichheld, «Prescription for cutting costs», Bain & Company, 25 October 2001. The Parma documents are in Italian.

We only use figures read in the original source, with sample and year, and we quote percentages as published. Where the white paper and the slides of the same survey round differently, we quote the slides. We review the page every three months and whenever new research comes out; the information about Iterum describes the product as of 8 October 2026 and promises no results.