1. The end of the points era — how loyalty became a product
The traditional loyalty program rested on a simple contract: the customer buys, collects points and receives a reward. This model — rooted in the airline frequent-flyer programs of the 1980s — went almost three decades without a fundamental change. Until now.
The modern loyalty app has stopped being a marketing communications channel. It has become a standalone digital product that must compete for the user's attention not only with the apps of other retail chains, but also with Instagram, Netflix and mobile banking. This is a fundamental paradigm shift: the app is no longer a tool for distributing coupons — it is a product that the customer consciously chooses, installs and interacts with on a daily basis.
According to the Deloitte Digital report "The Future of Loyalty 2026", 68% of consumers say a loyalty app influences their choice of retail chain. What is more, 41% of users open their loyalty app at least once a week — even when they are not planning to shop. That is behaviour typical of products, not marketing channels.
"The loyalty app has stopped being a communications channel. It has become a product. And products must be useful, engaging and regularly updated — otherwise they end up in the 'Not Used' folder next to a weather app from 2019."
2. The Polish loyalty-app landscape — who is leading the race?
The Polish loyalty-app market is one of the most dynamic and competitive in Europe. Four chains set the standards that the rest learn from. Here is a look at where the main players stand.
Biedronka — Moja Biedronka: the power of scale
With more than 10 million active users, the Moja Biedronka app is the largest loyalty app in Poland and one of the largest in Europe. Its strength is not technological sophistication but scale: daily promotions, personalised coupons and integration with the "Karta Moja Biedronka" program create an ecosystem that is hard to give up. The app reportedly generates 30% of additional store traffic on promotional days. The challenge remains the UX — the interface can feel overloaded, and the path "from coupon to purchase" requires too many clicks. Even so, for millions of Poles Moja Biedronka is the first app they open before heading out to shop.
Żabka — Żappka: gamification and ecosystem
Żappka is the most technologically advanced loyalty program in Polish retail. With mechanisms built around gamification — żapps, challenges, levels — Żabka has created a level of product engagement that reaches far beyond transactional loyalty. The average session time in Żappka is more than 4 minutes — a result comparable to social media apps. The app operates as a hub: the Żappka Pay payments, the Żappka Cafe program, the Jush delivery service and the e-shop all feed into a single ecosystem. It is the closest Polish example of a loyalty app as a super-app. The risk is fragmentation — the customer may feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of features.
Rossmann — Rossmann PL: personalisation first
The Rossmann app is a textbook example of data-driven personalisation in the drugstore and beauty segment. A recommendation engine built on purchase history and cosmetic preferences offers customers personalised coupons that — according to Rossmann's data — achieve an average redemption rate of 22%, three times higher than the market average for mass coupons. Klub Rossmann, integrated with the app, segments customers and rewards loyalty progressively — the more you spend, the better the benefits. It is a premium-segment approach brought to the mass market.
Lidl Plus: simplicity as strategy
Lidl Plus has taken the opposite strategy: functional minimalism. The app does not try to be a hub — it is a digital discount coupon with elements of personalisation. A simple interface, weekly coupons activated with a single tap, no gamification. The approach works for the Lidl customer: price-sensitive, expecting concrete value rather than interaction. However, the app sees low usage outside the shopping path — it is a channel, not a product. The strategic question for 2027 is whether Lidl can hold on to its customers' loyalty without deeper app engagement while competitors build ecosystems.
3. The data that defines loyalty 2.0
The numbers show the scale of the shift. Here are the key statistics that should sit on every retail marketing director's desk.
- 68% of consumers cite offers and promotions as the strongest driver of brand loyalty — personalization itself ranks second (26%); per Adobe "Customer Loyalty 2025" (n=1,003, US).
- 12.7 million Poles actively use at least one loyalty app — up 34% compared with 2024 (Statista Digital Economy Compass 2026).
- 48% of users of loyalty apps in Poland use at least three different programs at the same time — competition for the customer's attention has never been fiercer.
- The average retention rate of loyalty apps 30 days after installation stands at 29% — by comparison, fintech apps reach 41% (Adjust 2026 data).
- Gamification increases usage frequency by 47% — apps with game mechanics average 8.3 sessions per user per month, versus 5.6 for purely transactional apps (Deloitte Digital 2026).
- Apps with a payment function (such as Żappka Pay) increase the average basket value by 18% — a customer who pays in the app spends more and comes back more often.
The key conclusion from the data: loyalty is no longer a side effect of shopping — it is a separate user experience path. The app does not support sales; the app is the platform on which sales happen. For now, only the first league of Polish retail truly understands this shift.
4. From channel to product — the five pillars of transformation
Redesigning a loyalty app from a marketing channel into a digital product requires a change of approach in five key dimensions. Here they are.
Pillar 1. Product management instead of campaigns
Most loyalty apps in Poland are managed by marketing departments — a natural legacy of the coupon era. The problem is that marketing thinks in campaigns (quarterly, monthly), while a digital product demands continuous development, iteration and product-market fit. The best apps — Żappka, Rossmann PL — have dedicated product managers who do not report to the CMO but to a Chief Digital Officer or directly to the board. That is no coincidence.
Pillar 2. Everyday usefulness, not occasional value
A loyalty app used only while shopping is an app with limited value. A true digital product delivers value between transactions: advice, inspiration, content, community. Żappka has moved into lifestyle space — recipes, nutrition advice, health challenges. Rossmann delivers beauty content and cosmetic recommendations. Biedronka invests in meal planning. These are not add-ons — they are product features that build daily active users.
Pillar 3. Real-time personalisation
Personalisation in a loyalty app cannot rest on segmentation rules from a quarter ago. In the age of AI and real-time data, the app must respond to customer behaviour in the moment it happens. A customer who has just checked the price of an anti-wrinkle cream on a Rossmann shelf should not receive a coupon tomorrow in a newsletter; she should get it now — on the app screen. This requires a data infrastructure that most Polish chains do not yet have.
Pillar 4. An ecosystem, not a lonely island
A loyalty app cannot be a closed system. It must integrate with payments (like Żappka Pay), with e-commerce (like Rossmann with online orders and in-store pickup), and with partner programs (like Lidl Plus with external benefits). The more points of contact, the harder it is for the customer to leave — this is the classic ecosystem lock-in effect known from Apple and Google, applied to retail.
Pillar 5. Product metrics, not marketing metrics
Traditional marketing KPIs — campaign reach, number of coupons issued, redemption rate — are not enough to judge an app as a product. What is needed are retention metrics: DAU/MAU ratio, time spent in the app, frequency of use, churn rate, NPS. An app with 5 million installs but 90% of users not returning after a month is a product failure — even if the campaigns report success.
"Marketing thinks in campaigns — quarterly, monthly. A digital product demands continuous development and iteration. That is why the best loyalty apps — Żappka, Rossmann PL — have product managers who do not report to the CMO. And that is no coincidence."
5. Gamification — the psychology of engagement in practice
Gamification is the most powerful product-engagement tool in loyalty apps — and at the same time the most misunderstood. It is not about badges and points for their own sake. It is about harnessing the psychological mechanisms that drive intrinsic motivation.
Deloitte Digital 2026 research shows that apps with game mechanics record 47% higher usage frequency than purely transactional apps. But the detail matters: the increase only applies to apps where gamification is deeply integrated with the core value proposition, rather than attached as a visual layer.
Żappka is the benchmark case here. The system of żapps (a virtual currency), weekly challenges and progressive levels uses three fundamental behavioural psychology mechanisms: instant gratification (żapps for every transaction), the progress effect (a level bar you want to fill up) and commitment consistency (once started, a challenge is hard to abandon). These are the same mechanisms that drive Duolingo — not the loyalty cards of the 1990s.
The trap of gamification is excessive complexity. The more mechanics, the greater the risk that the customer feels overwhelmed and abandons the app. The golden rule: no more than three active game mechanics at a time.
6. Risks and blind alleys
Transforming a loyalty app into a digital product carries significant risks that — if ignored — can destroy years of investment.
Feature overload
The most common mistake is the so-called feature creep — adding new features without removing old ones. An app that tries to be a loyalty program, a store, a payment platform, a content hub and a community tool all at once becomes unreadable. Lidl Plus shows that simplicity is a competitive advantage — provided it is a conscious choice rather than neglect.
Data privacy
Real-time personalisation requires access to huge amounts of customer data: location, purchase history, in-app behaviour, and increasingly biometric and behavioural data too. The PwC 2026 report shows that 41% of Polish consumers are concerned about data privacy in loyalty apps. Any leak — and Polish chains are not immune — is a potential loss of trust that no coupon can rebuild.
Dependence on promotions
The deepest paradox of loyalty apps is the risk that they build loyalty not to the brand but to the discount. If the customer opens the app only to check what is cheaper today, that is not loyalty — it is transactional dependence on price. True loyalty 2.0 is built on added value, not on discounting. Apps that compete on price alone enter a race to the bottom — and lose to discounters.
"But 41% of Poles are concerned about data privacy in loyalty apps. And feature creep kills more apps than a lack of budget. That is why winning at loyalty 2.0 is not about the number of features — it is about the courage not to add some of them."
7. Eight recommendations for retailers — loyalty 2.0 in practice
Drawing on an analysis of the Polish market, research data and case studies of the main players, here are eight strategic recommendations for retail chain boards planning a loyalty transformation for 2027.
- Stop thinking of the app as a marketing channel. Hire a product manager with consumer-app experience, not retail marketing experience. Give them a budget, a team of engineers and decision-making autonomy. Have them report to the board, not the CMO. This is the single most important organisational decision.
- Define your app's core value proposition. It cannot be "collecting points". Żappka bet on gamification and an ecosystem. Rossmann bet on beauty personalisation. Biedronka bet on scale and everyday savings. What is your core value? If you do not know — do not build the app until you find out.
- Introduce a real-time personalisation engine. Without it, the app will stay stuck at the 2018 level. A recommendation engine, dynamic coupons, geolocated offers — all built on first-party data, respecting GDPR and with transparent user consent.
- Integrate in-app payments. Market data (Żappka Pay, SkyCash, Blik) is unambiguous: an app with payments increases usage frequency and basket value. This is not an optional feature — it is the ticket into the ecosystem.
- Build a gamification strategy grounded in behavioural psychology. Not badges and points — only progress, instant-gratification and commitment-consistency mechanics. No more than three active mechanics. Test and iterate.
- Measure retention, not installs. Download numbers are vanity metrics. What counts is the DAU/MAU ratio, 30-day retention, session frequency and NPS. If your app has 2 million installs and 8% 30-day retention, you have a product problem, not a marketing one.
- Manage privacy risk. Data security audits, transparent consent management, and letting users delete their data with a single click. In the age of GDPR and growing consumer awareness, privacy is not a compliance cost — it is a competitive advantage.
- Do not copy Biedronka. You will not match its scale. Instead, find your niche: a premium experience, community, category specialisation. Loyalty 2.0 does not exclude smaller players — as long as they do not play the same game as the leader.
Loyalty 2.0 is not an evolution of the loyalty program. It is building the relationship between a retail chain and its customer from scratch — in a world where an app on the smartphone's home screen is worth more than any advertising surface. For Polish retailers, the next 12 months are the moment of decision: they either invest in a digital product, or they stay with a plastic card in the age of the digital ecosystem.
If you are wondering how to redesign your chain's loyalty strategy — I help retailers build loyalty programs that are products, not channels. Get in touch, let's talk.