Clicks Clubcard has taken over the top spot as the most used loyalty programme at 67%. The Clicks brand took over the top position from Pick n Pay and their Smart Shopper card system, with Pick n Pay, ranked in second place with 66%.

The third spot belonged to Dischem with a sizeable jump down to 44% who climbed two places compared to last years list.

These are results from the 2017 Truth Loyalty Whitepaper, which is a complete annual look at the loyalty habits of 28 273 adults with a gross monthly income of R10 000 or more.

Loyalty programmes are up 8% compared to 2016 which makes the number of loyalty programme users stand at 79%. 

With four out of five South Africans now using loyalty programmes, people view memberships as something that is worth their while. 

The CEO of Truth, Amanda Cromhout, said that it has been another tough year for South Africans and political and economic instability always ends up hurting the consumer's pockets. 

Clicks reported that the loyalty programme membership has grown to 6.5 million members which make up 77,4 % of sales.

The Edgars Thank U card retains their spot in fourth place but Woolworths fell two places to fifth place this year. 

FNB has remained the most used loyalty programme for banking while being ranked in sixth place and Spur at the seventh place is the only restaurant on the list. 

Loyalty programme users have increased since 2016. Male loyalty programmes users stand at 74%, a 5% increase since last year and 84% of women are loyalty programmes users, an 11% increase compared to 2016.

Consumers should be selective about the programmes that they join. Cromhout said that her advice to consumers is to focus on the brands you use most often and whose loyalty programmes rates are fairly high. The ideal rate should be between 2-5%.

Some of South Africa's other loyalty programmes are:

1. Exclusive Books Fanatics
2. Discovery Vitality
3. SAA Voyager
4. Standard Bank UCount 
5. MTN 1-4-1

- BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE