RETAIL CHAMPION 2026 | EXECUTIVE INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING | BEST LOYALTY PROGRAM
When a Loyalty Programme Changes What Shoppers Do Next
How does membership become useful enough to shape the next visit, basket or choice?
Executive Intelligence Briefing
4–6 min read
BIEDRONKA leads the 2026 Best Loyalty Program results with 213 points, up from 207 a year earlier. The biggest change comes from ROSSMANN, which rises from 132 to 192 and gains six places. Behind those numbers is a definition of loyalty that is more interesting than simply asking which retailer has the most popular programme.
The YouGov index looks at three different things: how many of a retailer’s customers have its loyalty card or app, whether shoppers find the programme attractive, and how much of their total spending the retailer’s heaviest customers bring to that banner. Together, those measures take us from joining a programme to finding it useful and, ultimately, to the way people actually shop.
A shopper can therefore be a member without the programme playing much of a role in their decisions. The interesting part lies between membership and behaviour: what does the retailer give the shopper that is useful enough to be noticed, remembered and perhaps influence what happens next?
3,092
shopper surveys
Analysed in the YouGov study
21
retailers
Included in the research
July – September 2026
Fieldwork period
Members invited 1–2 days after a purchase
Membership is where the relationship starts
A loyalty programme first needs a simple way to recognise the shopper. BIEDRONKA gives customers several options: they can use a physical Moja Biedronka card, a virtual card in the app or a registered telephone number at checkout. Someone who wants to use the programme more actively can then open the app for individual offers and other benefits, while another shopper can continue with the same physical card they have used for years.
That flexibility matters because people do not all want to interact with a retailer in the same way, but recognition is still only the beginning of the relationship. Once the programme knows who the shopper is, the more important question is what being a member actually changes for that person.
Sometimes the answer is immediate: a member receives a lower price or a useful coupon. In other cases, previous shopping helps the retailer select a more relevant offer, or the shopper collects points, builds a balance or works towards something that becomes valuable later. These mechanisms may look quite different, yet all of them are trying to give the customer a reason to identify with the programme again.
The value also has to remain easy to understand. A generous benefit quickly becomes less useful when the shopper has to remember too many conditions, activation steps or deadlines. Personalisation faces a similar test because showing someone a different offer has little value merely because it is different; it becomes useful when the customer sees a good reason to use it.
For a large programme, the aim is not to make every member behave in the same way. The relationship can grow because different shoppers repeatedly find something worthwhile in it, whether that is a saving today, a relevant offer tomorrow or value they are building for later.
The benefit has to matter after checkout
BIEDRONKA’s 2026 Biedronkowy Dobry Start campaign shows particularly clearly how value can move from one shopping trip into another. Customers who made at least PLN 600 of qualifying school-related purchases could receive three PLN 100 vouchers. Those vouchers were not simply taken off the school-shopping basket; they became available during three later periods, with each requiring another basket of at least PLN 199.
Part of the value created during one purchase was therefore waiting for the shopper in the future. For the customer, that creates a very simple thought: there is something worth coming back for. For the retailer, it connects today’s reward with another shopping occasion instead of allowing the whole benefit to disappear at the checkout.
There are many ways to create that connection. Cashback can wait for another purchase, points can become more valuable as they accumulate, and a collection campaign can make progress visible over several visits. A personalised offer may give someone a reason to check the programme again, while an immediate member price can strengthen the habit of identifying every time they shop.
Which mechanism works best depends partly on the rhythm of the relationship. Someone buying groceries several times a week lives in a different shopping cycle from someone buying cosmetics occasionally or making a large purchase only a few times a year. A useful programme fits into that rhythm and gives the shopper value at a moment when it can actually matter.
This is also why the size of a programme tells only part of the story. A card in a wallet becomes useful when there is a reason to scan it, and an app on a phone matters when opening it regularly produces something worthwhile. The same is true of rewards: their value does not come only from their size, but from whether they fit naturally into what the customer is likely to do next.
The real test is the next decision
Loyalty programmes produce plenty of activity that can be measured. Customers open apps, activate offers, collect points, redeem rewards and join campaigns. All of those actions can be valuable, but the business question becomes more interesting when we ask what happened afterwards.
At Retail Summit 2026, one case from the travel industry illustrated the difference. An earlier programme had rewarded the purchase the customer was already making with an immediate discount. The redesigned programme moved the reward into cashback for a future purchase. The important change was not simply from one reward mechanism to another; the company had changed the job of the reward, from making today’s purchase cheaper to giving the customer a reason to consider coming back.
Retailers operate with very different shopping cycles, yet the underlying question travels well. For one customer, success might mean another visit. For another, it could mean moving more of the weekly household basket to the retailer, choosing a different product because an offer is genuinely relevant, or deciding that accumulated value makes staying with the same retailer worthwhile.
The Club of 369 discussions around the 2027 programme added another dimension. Participants questioned loyalty that depends too heavily on price alone because, if the relationship exists mainly because one retailer gives the largest discount, another retailer can compete in exactly the same way. Price remains important, of course, but it is only one possible reason for a customer to stay.
A stronger relationship can combine savings with relevance, recognition, progress, convenience and value that builds over time. The mixture will differ between retailers and between customers, which makes the real management task less about adding more programme features and more about understanding what each part of the programme is supposed to achieve.
This also gives loyalty data a more useful role. Knowing that a customer opened an app or redeemed a coupon tells the retailer that something happened. Knowing which customers need another reason to return, which already shop regularly, which offers make their shopping more relevant and where rewards are strengthening an existing relationship gives the business something much more useful to act on.
The 2026 Retail Champion results therefore lead naturally to questions that go well beyond the size of a loyalty programme. Who are we trying to influence? What would we like them to do differently? What kind of value would genuinely help with that next decision? When should that value arrive: now, on the next visit or gradually over time? And would the shopper actually miss the programme if it disappeared?
Those are among the questions we will continue to examine as the programme develops for Poland & CEE Retail Summit 2027, on 13–14 April 2027 in Warsaw.
Key takeaways
Leading the loyalty ranking and improving fastest are different achievements. BIEDRONKA led in 2026 with 213 points, up from 207. ROSSMANN rose from 132 to 192 and gained six places. The index looks at more than who holds a card or app.
A benefit that is hard to use is easy to ignore. A card or app lets a retailer recognise a shopper. Clear member prices, relevant offers and rewards worth saving give people a reason to use the programme again.
A reward can matter most on the next visit. BIEDRONKA's school-shopping campaign offered qualifying shoppers vouchers to use during three later periods. It was designed to give people a reason to return. The real question is whether such rewards change the next visit, basket or retailer choice.
RETAIL CHAMPION 2026 | EXECUTIVE INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING | BEST LOYALTY PROGRAM
When a Loyalty Programme Changes What Shoppers Do Next
How does membership become useful enough to shape the next visit, basket or choice?
Executive Intelligence Briefing
4–6 min read
BIEDRONKA leads the 2026 Best Loyalty Program results with 213 points, up from 207 a year earlier. The biggest change comes from ROSSMANN, which rises from 132 to 192 and gains six places. Behind those numbers is a definition of loyalty that is more interesting than simply asking which retailer has the most popular programme.
The YouGov index looks at three different things: how many of a retailer’s customers have its loyalty card or app, whether shoppers find the programme attractive, and how much of their total spending the retailer’s heaviest customers bring to that banner. Together, those measures take us from joining a programme to finding it useful and, ultimately, to the way people actually shop.
A shopper can therefore be a member without the programme playing much of a role in their decisions. The interesting part lies between membership and behaviour: what does the retailer give the shopper that is useful enough to be noticed, remembered and perhaps influence what happens next?
3,092
shopper surveys
Analysed in the YouGov study
21
retailers
Included in the research
July – September 2026
Fieldwork period
Members invited 1–2 days after a purchase
Membership is where the relationship starts
A loyalty programme first needs a simple way to recognise the shopper. BIEDRONKA gives customers several options: they can use a physical Moja Biedronka card, a virtual card in the app or a registered telephone number at checkout. Someone who wants to use the programme more actively can then open the app for individual offers and other benefits, while another shopper can continue with the same physical card they have used for years.
That flexibility matters because people do not all want to interact with a retailer in the same way, but recognition is still only the beginning of the relationship. Once the programme knows who the shopper is, the more important question is what being a member actually changes for that person.
Sometimes the answer is immediate: a member receives a lower price or a useful coupon. In other cases, previous shopping helps the retailer select a more relevant offer, or the shopper collects points, builds a balance or works towards something that becomes valuable later. These mechanisms may look quite different, yet all of them are trying to give the customer a reason to identify with the programme again.
The value also has to remain easy to understand. A generous benefit quickly becomes less useful when the shopper has to remember too many conditions, activation steps or deadlines. Personalisation faces a similar test because showing someone a different offer has little value merely because it is different; it becomes useful when the customer sees a good reason to use it.
For a large programme, the aim is not to make every member behave in the same way. The relationship can grow because different shoppers repeatedly find something worthwhile in it, whether that is a saving today, a relevant offer tomorrow or value they are building for later.
The benefit has to matter after checkout
BIEDRONKA’s 2026 Biedronkowy Dobry Start campaign shows particularly clearly how value can move from one shopping trip into another. Customers who made at least PLN 600 of qualifying school-related purchases could receive three PLN 100 vouchers. Those vouchers were not simply taken off the school-shopping basket; they became available during three later periods, with each requiring another basket of at least PLN 199.
Part of the value created during one purchase was therefore waiting for the shopper in the future. For the customer, that creates a very simple thought: there is something worth coming back for. For the retailer, it connects today’s reward with another shopping occasion instead of allowing the whole benefit to disappear at the checkout.
There are many ways to create that connection. Cashback can wait for another purchase, points can become more valuable as they accumulate, and a collection campaign can make progress visible over several visits. A personalised offer may give someone a reason to check the programme again, while an immediate member price can strengthen the habit of identifying every time they shop.
Which mechanism works best depends partly on the rhythm of the relationship. Someone buying groceries several times a week lives in a different shopping cycle from someone buying cosmetics occasionally or making a large purchase only a few times a year. A useful programme fits into that rhythm and gives the shopper value at a moment when it can actually matter.
This is also why the size of a programme tells only part of the story. A card in a wallet becomes useful when there is a reason to scan it, and an app on a phone matters when opening it regularly produces something worthwhile. The same is true of rewards: their value does not come only from their size, but from whether they fit naturally into what the customer is likely to do next.
The real test is the next decision
Loyalty programmes produce plenty of activity that can be measured. Customers open apps, activate offers, collect points, redeem rewards and join campaigns. All of those actions can be valuable, but the business question becomes more interesting when we ask what happened afterwards.
At Retail Summit 2026, one case from the travel industry illustrated the difference. An earlier programme had rewarded the purchase the customer was already making with an immediate discount. The redesigned programme moved the reward into cashback for a future purchase. The important change was not simply from one reward mechanism to another; the company had changed the job of the reward, from making today’s purchase cheaper to giving the customer a reason to consider coming back.
Retailers operate with very different shopping cycles, yet the underlying question travels well. For one customer, success might mean another visit. For another, it could mean moving more of the weekly household basket to the retailer, choosing a different product because an offer is genuinely relevant, or deciding that accumulated value makes staying with the same retailer worthwhile.
The Club of 369 discussions around the 2027 programme added another dimension. Participants questioned loyalty that depends too heavily on price alone because, if the relationship exists mainly because one retailer gives the largest discount, another retailer can compete in exactly the same way. Price remains important, of course, but it is only one possible reason for a customer to stay.
A stronger relationship can combine savings with relevance, recognition, progress, convenience and value that builds over time. The mixture will differ between retailers and between customers, which makes the real management task less about adding more programme features and more about understanding what each part of the programme is supposed to achieve.
This also gives loyalty data a more useful role. Knowing that a customer opened an app or redeemed a coupon tells the retailer that something happened. Knowing which customers need another reason to return, which already shop regularly, which offers make their shopping more relevant and where rewards are strengthening an existing relationship gives the business something much more useful to act on.
The 2026 Retail Champion results therefore lead naturally to questions that go well beyond the size of a loyalty programme. Who are we trying to influence? What would we like them to do differently? What kind of value would genuinely help with that next decision? When should that value arrive: now, on the next visit or gradually over time? And would the shopper actually miss the programme if it disappeared?
Those are among the questions we will continue to examine as the programme develops for Poland & CEE Retail Summit 2027, on 13–14 April 2027 in Warsaw.
Key takeaways
Leading the loyalty ranking and improving fastest are different achievements. BIEDRONKA led in 2026 with 213 points, up from 207. ROSSMANN rose from 132 to 192 and gained six places. The index looks at more than who holds a card or app.
A benefit that is hard to use is easy to ignore. A card or app lets a retailer recognise a shopper. Clear member prices, relevant offers and rewards worth saving give people a reason to use the programme again.
A reward can matter most on the next visit. BIEDRONKA's school-shopping campaign offered qualifying shoppers vouchers to use during three later periods. It was designed to give people a reason to return. The real question is whether such rewards change the next visit, basket or retailer choice.
RETAIL CHAMPION 2026 | EXECUTIVE INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING | BEST LOYALTY PROGRAM
When a Loyalty Programme Changes What Shoppers Do Next
How does membership become useful enough to shape the next visit, basket or choice?
Executive Intelligence Briefing
4–6 min read
BIEDRONKA leads the 2026 Best Loyalty Program results with 213 points, up from 207 a year earlier. The biggest change comes from ROSSMANN, which rises from 132 to 192 and gains six places. Behind those numbers is a definition of loyalty that is more interesting than simply asking which retailer has the most popular programme.
The YouGov index looks at three different things: how many of a retailer’s customers have its loyalty card or app, whether shoppers find the programme attractive, and how much of their total spending the retailer’s heaviest customers bring to that banner. Together, those measures take us from joining a programme to finding it useful and, ultimately, to the way people actually shop.
A shopper can therefore be a member without the programme playing much of a role in their decisions. The interesting part lies between membership and behaviour: what does the retailer give the shopper that is useful enough to be noticed, remembered and perhaps influence what happens next?
3,092
shopper surveys
Analysed in the YouGov study
21
retailers
Included in the research
July – September 2026
Fieldwork period
Members invited 1–2 days after a purchase
Membership is where the relationship starts
A loyalty programme first needs a simple way to recognise the shopper. BIEDRONKA gives customers several options: they can use a physical Moja Biedronka card, a virtual card in the app or a registered telephone number at checkout. Someone who wants to use the programme more actively can then open the app for individual offers and other benefits, while another shopper can continue with the same physical card they have used for years.
That flexibility matters because people do not all want to interact with a retailer in the same way, but recognition is still only the beginning of the relationship. Once the programme knows who the shopper is, the more important question is what being a member actually changes for that person.
Sometimes the answer is immediate: a member receives a lower price or a useful coupon. In other cases, previous shopping helps the retailer select a more relevant offer, or the shopper collects points, builds a balance or works towards something that becomes valuable later. These mechanisms may look quite different, yet all of them are trying to give the customer a reason to identify with the programme again.
The value also has to remain easy to understand. A generous benefit quickly becomes less useful when the shopper has to remember too many conditions, activation steps or deadlines. Personalisation faces a similar test because showing someone a different offer has little value merely because it is different; it becomes useful when the customer sees a good reason to use it.
For a large programme, the aim is not to make every member behave in the same way. The relationship can grow because different shoppers repeatedly find something worthwhile in it, whether that is a saving today, a relevant offer tomorrow or value they are building for later.
The benefit has to matter after checkout
BIEDRONKA’s 2026 Biedronkowy Dobry Start campaign shows particularly clearly how value can move from one shopping trip into another. Customers who made at least PLN 600 of qualifying school-related purchases could receive three PLN 100 vouchers. Those vouchers were not simply taken off the school-shopping basket; they became available during three later periods, with each requiring another basket of at least PLN 199.
Part of the value created during one purchase was therefore waiting for the shopper in the future. For the customer, that creates a very simple thought: there is something worth coming back for. For the retailer, it connects today’s reward with another shopping occasion instead of allowing the whole benefit to disappear at the checkout.
There are many ways to create that connection. Cashback can wait for another purchase, points can become more valuable as they accumulate, and a collection campaign can make progress visible over several visits. A personalised offer may give someone a reason to check the programme again, while an immediate member price can strengthen the habit of identifying every time they shop.
Which mechanism works best depends partly on the rhythm of the relationship. Someone buying groceries several times a week lives in a different shopping cycle from someone buying cosmetics occasionally or making a large purchase only a few times a year. A useful programme fits into that rhythm and gives the shopper value at a moment when it can actually matter.
This is also why the size of a programme tells only part of the story. A card in a wallet becomes useful when there is a reason to scan it, and an app on a phone matters when opening it regularly produces something worthwhile. The same is true of rewards: their value does not come only from their size, but from whether they fit naturally into what the customer is likely to do next.
The real test is the next decision
Loyalty programmes produce plenty of activity that can be measured. Customers open apps, activate offers, collect points, redeem rewards and join campaigns. All of those actions can be valuable, but the business question becomes more interesting when we ask what happened afterwards.
At Retail Summit 2026, one case from the travel industry illustrated the difference. An earlier programme had rewarded the purchase the customer was already making with an immediate discount. The redesigned programme moved the reward into cashback for a future purchase. The important change was not simply from one reward mechanism to another; the company had changed the job of the reward, from making today’s purchase cheaper to giving the customer a reason to consider coming back.
Retailers operate with very different shopping cycles, yet the underlying question travels well. For one customer, success might mean another visit. For another, it could mean moving more of the weekly household basket to the retailer, choosing a different product because an offer is genuinely relevant, or deciding that accumulated value makes staying with the same retailer worthwhile.
The Club of 369 discussions around the 2027 programme added another dimension. Participants questioned loyalty that depends too heavily on price alone because, if the relationship exists mainly because one retailer gives the largest discount, another retailer can compete in exactly the same way. Price remains important, of course, but it is only one possible reason for a customer to stay.
A stronger relationship can combine savings with relevance, recognition, progress, convenience and value that builds over time. The mixture will differ between retailers and between customers, which makes the real management task less about adding more programme features and more about understanding what each part of the programme is supposed to achieve.
This also gives loyalty data a more useful role. Knowing that a customer opened an app or redeemed a coupon tells the retailer that something happened. Knowing which customers need another reason to return, which already shop regularly, which offers make their shopping more relevant and where rewards are strengthening an existing relationship gives the business something much more useful to act on.
The 2026 Retail Champion results therefore lead naturally to questions that go well beyond the size of a loyalty programme. Who are we trying to influence? What would we like them to do differently? What kind of value would genuinely help with that next decision? When should that value arrive: now, on the next visit or gradually over time? And would the shopper actually miss the programme if it disappeared?
Those are among the questions we will continue to examine as the programme develops for Poland & CEE Retail Summit 2027, on 13–14 April 2027 in Warsaw.
Key takeaways
Leading the loyalty ranking and improving fastest are different achievements. BIEDRONKA led in 2026 with 213 points, up from 207. ROSSMANN rose from 132 to 192 and gained six places. The index looks at more than who holds a card or app.
A benefit that is hard to use is easy to ignore. A card or app lets a retailer recognise a shopper. Clear member prices, relevant offers and rewards worth saving give people a reason to use the programme again.
A reward can matter most on the next visit. BIEDRONKA's school-shopping campaign offered qualifying shoppers vouchers to use during three later periods. It was designed to give people a reason to return. The real question is whether such rewards change the next visit, basket or retailer choice.
RETAIL CHAMPION 2026 | EXECUTIVE INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING | BEST LOYALTY PROGRAM
When a Loyalty Programme Changes What Shoppers Do Next
How does membership become useful enough to shape the next visit, basket or choice?
Executive Intelligence Briefing
4–6 min read
BIEDRONKA leads the 2026 Best Loyalty Program results with 213 points, up from 207 a year earlier. The biggest change comes from ROSSMANN, which rises from 132 to 192 and gains six places. Behind those numbers is a definition of loyalty that is more interesting than simply asking which retailer has the most popular programme.
The YouGov index looks at three different things: how many of a retailer’s customers have its loyalty card or app, whether shoppers find the programme attractive, and how much of their total spending the retailer’s heaviest customers bring to that banner. Together, those measures take us from joining a programme to finding it useful and, ultimately, to the way people actually shop.
A shopper can therefore be a member without the programme playing much of a role in their decisions. The interesting part lies between membership and behaviour: what does the retailer give the shopper that is useful enough to be noticed, remembered and perhaps influence what happens next?
3,092
shopper surveys
Analysed in the YouGov study
21
retailers
Included in the research
July – September 2026
Fieldwork period
Members invited 1–2 days after a purchase
Membership is where the relationship starts
A loyalty programme first needs a simple way to recognise the shopper. BIEDRONKA gives customers several options: they can use a physical Moja Biedronka card, a virtual card in the app or a registered telephone number at checkout. Someone who wants to use the programme more actively can then open the app for individual offers and other benefits, while another shopper can continue with the same physical card they have used for years.
That flexibility matters because people do not all want to interact with a retailer in the same way, but recognition is still only the beginning of the relationship. Once the programme knows who the shopper is, the more important question is what being a member actually changes for that person.
Sometimes the answer is immediate: a member receives a lower price or a useful coupon. In other cases, previous shopping helps the retailer select a more relevant offer, or the shopper collects points, builds a balance or works towards something that becomes valuable later. These mechanisms may look quite different, yet all of them are trying to give the customer a reason to identify with the programme again.
The value also has to remain easy to understand. A generous benefit quickly becomes less useful when the shopper has to remember too many conditions, activation steps or deadlines. Personalisation faces a similar test because showing someone a different offer has little value merely because it is different; it becomes useful when the customer sees a good reason to use it.
For a large programme, the aim is not to make every member behave in the same way. The relationship can grow because different shoppers repeatedly find something worthwhile in it, whether that is a saving today, a relevant offer tomorrow or value they are building for later.
The benefit has to matter after checkout
BIEDRONKA’s 2026 Biedronkowy Dobry Start campaign shows particularly clearly how value can move from one shopping trip into another. Customers who made at least PLN 600 of qualifying school-related purchases could receive three PLN 100 vouchers. Those vouchers were not simply taken off the school-shopping basket; they became available during three later periods, with each requiring another basket of at least PLN 199.
Part of the value created during one purchase was therefore waiting for the shopper in the future. For the customer, that creates a very simple thought: there is something worth coming back for. For the retailer, it connects today’s reward with another shopping occasion instead of allowing the whole benefit to disappear at the checkout.
There are many ways to create that connection. Cashback can wait for another purchase, points can become more valuable as they accumulate, and a collection campaign can make progress visible over several visits. A personalised offer may give someone a reason to check the programme again, while an immediate member price can strengthen the habit of identifying every time they shop.
Which mechanism works best depends partly on the rhythm of the relationship. Someone buying groceries several times a week lives in a different shopping cycle from someone buying cosmetics occasionally or making a large purchase only a few times a year. A useful programme fits into that rhythm and gives the shopper value at a moment when it can actually matter.
This is also why the size of a programme tells only part of the story. A card in a wallet becomes useful when there is a reason to scan it, and an app on a phone matters when opening it regularly produces something worthwhile. The same is true of rewards: their value does not come only from their size, but from whether they fit naturally into what the customer is likely to do next.
The real test is the next decision
Loyalty programmes produce plenty of activity that can be measured. Customers open apps, activate offers, collect points, redeem rewards and join campaigns. All of those actions can be valuable, but the business question becomes more interesting when we ask what happened afterwards.
At Retail Summit 2026, one case from the travel industry illustrated the difference. An earlier programme had rewarded the purchase the customer was already making with an immediate discount. The redesigned programme moved the reward into cashback for a future purchase. The important change was not simply from one reward mechanism to another; the company had changed the job of the reward, from making today’s purchase cheaper to giving the customer a reason to consider coming back.
Retailers operate with very different shopping cycles, yet the underlying question travels well. For one customer, success might mean another visit. For another, it could mean moving more of the weekly household basket to the retailer, choosing a different product because an offer is genuinely relevant, or deciding that accumulated value makes staying with the same retailer worthwhile.
The Club of 369 discussions around the 2027 programme added another dimension. Participants questioned loyalty that depends too heavily on price alone because, if the relationship exists mainly because one retailer gives the largest discount, another retailer can compete in exactly the same way. Price remains important, of course, but it is only one possible reason for a customer to stay.
A stronger relationship can combine savings with relevance, recognition, progress, convenience and value that builds over time. The mixture will differ between retailers and between customers, which makes the real management task less about adding more programme features and more about understanding what each part of the programme is supposed to achieve.
This also gives loyalty data a more useful role. Knowing that a customer opened an app or redeemed a coupon tells the retailer that something happened. Knowing which customers need another reason to return, which already shop regularly, which offers make their shopping more relevant and where rewards are strengthening an existing relationship gives the business something much more useful to act on.
The 2026 Retail Champion results therefore lead naturally to questions that go well beyond the size of a loyalty programme. Who are we trying to influence? What would we like them to do differently? What kind of value would genuinely help with that next decision? When should that value arrive: now, on the next visit or gradually over time? And would the shopper actually miss the programme if it disappeared?
Those are among the questions we will continue to examine as the programme develops for Poland & CEE Retail Summit 2027, on 13–14 April 2027 in Warsaw.
Key takeaways
Leading the loyalty ranking and improving fastest are different achievements. BIEDRONKA led in 2026 with 213 points, up from 207. ROSSMANN rose from 132 to 192 and gained six places. The index looks at more than who holds a card or app.
A benefit that is hard to use is easy to ignore. A card or app lets a retailer recognise a shopper. Clear member prices, relevant offers and rewards worth saving give people a reason to use the programme again.
A reward can matter most on the next visit. BIEDRONKA's school-shopping campaign offered qualifying shoppers vouchers to use during three later periods. It was designed to give people a reason to return. The real question is whether such rewards change the next visit, basket or retailer choice.
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Explore more insights from Retail Champion
Read the full 2026 report and discover how retail, consumer goods and FMCG professionals can become part of the Club of 369.
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Explore more insights from Retail Champion
Read the full 2026 report and discover how retail, consumer goods and FMCG professionals can become part of the Club of 369.
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Explore more insights from Retail Champion
Read the full 2026 report and discover how retail, consumer goods and FMCG professionals can become part of the Club of 369.
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Explore more insights from Retail Champion
Read the full 2026 report and discover how retail, consumer goods and FMCG professionals can become part of the Club of 369.