Definition
Multi-location loyalty
Multi-location loyalty is a single loyalty programme that works across every site a business runs, so a customer earns at one branch and can redeem at another with one shared balance.
One card is the only sensible answer
Separate cards per branch feel tidy from the inside and make no sense from the outside. A customer who has visited two of your cafés does not think of them as different businesses, and being told their stamps do not count here is worse than having no card at all. Share the balance and treat the internal accounting as your problem.
The settlement problem
Nine stamps at the busy city site, the free coffee claimed at the quiet suburban one. The suburban site has given away stock it never earned, and where each site has its own P&L that is a real transfer nobody agreed to. Recording where every stamp was earned and every reward handed over is what makes it settleable rather than a grievance.
What staff should see
Their own branch. A barista needs today at their counter and whether the customer in front of them has a reward; giving everyone the group view means nobody can find the number they need. Branch-scoped accounts are also the correct security posture — a departing employee should not leave with the whole group’s customer list.
Questions
- Should a customer be able to redeem at any branch?
- Yes, and they will expect to. What matters is that the system records both sides so branches can settle rather than one quietly subsidising another.
- How is this different for franchises?
- With company-owned branches, settlement is an internal transfer and small inaccuracies wash out. Between franchisees it is money between two businesses, so the report has to be auditable rather than taken on trust.
Related terms
Franchise settlement
Franchise settlement is the process of squaring up between sites in a shared loyalty programme, because the branch that issued the stamps is often not the branch that gave the reward away.
Loyalty program
A loyalty program is an arrangement that rewards customers for coming back. In hospitality it usually takes one of two forms: stamps counted per visit toward a free item, or points accrued against how much is spent.
Repeat rate
Repeat rate is the proportion of customers who return at least once after their first visit. It is the most useful single number for judging a loyalty programme, because it measures the behaviour the programme is meant to change.
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