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Interview

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From Points to Participation: What Actually Drives Loyalty

📍Toronto, Canada

Everyone has a loyalty program. Airlines, coffee shops, grocery stores, pharmacies. It has become almost expected. But if you think about your own behavior, you’re probably only loyal to a handful of brands. That gap between having a loyalty program and actually creating loyalty is where most companies struggle. It’s also what made the conversation with Noah Goldberg from Loblaw Companies Limited so interesting. Because when you operate PC Optimum at the scale of nearly 16 million members, you see very quickly what works and what doesn’t.

What stands out is that loyalty is not really about points. Points are just the visible layer. The real engine is engagement. Opening the app, loading offers, interacting weekly, building habits around the experience. That is where value is created, both for the customer and for the business. It’s also where most programs fall short. They exist, but they are not part of people’s routines. And without that routine, there is no real loyalty, just occasional transactions.

What makes this even more complex is that the experience has to feel simple. From the outside, it looks effortless. You earn points, you redeem them, you save money. But behind that simplicity sits a highly coordinated system powered by hundreds of people, multiple platforms, and constant testing. At that scale, loyalty becomes less of a feature and more of an operating system that connects different parts of the business, from stores to digital to retail media. The customer never sees that complexity, and that is exactly the point.

Looking ahead, the next shift is already starting. AI will not just improve how offers are targeted, it will start acting on behalf of the customer. Building baskets, maximizing points, deciding when to redeem. Loyalty becomes something that works for you rather than something you manage. And yet, the foundation remains the same. Customers buy what they need, they get value back, and they come back again. The brands that win will not be the ones with the most sophisticated programs, but the ones that become part of everyday behavior.

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