(MENAFN- GlobeNewsWire - Nasdaq) Dublin, Sept. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "China Loyalty Market Size & Forecast by Spend Value Across 100+ KPIs by Program Type, Channel Mix, Sector, Embedded Loyalty Penetration, and Platform Spend Segmentation - Databook Q2 2026 Update" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. China's loyalty market is expected to increase by 15.4% annually to reach US$68.57 billion in 2026, supported by expanding digital memberships, wallet-linked rewards, restaurant apps, and travel loyalty programs.
The market recorded a compound annual growth rate of 17.3% between 2021 and 2025. Growth is forecast to remain strong at a CAGR of 13.1% from 2026 to 2030, with the market projected to rise from US$59.41 billion in 2025 to approximately US$112.23 billion by 2030.
E-commerce Platforms Prioritize High-Value Membership Retention
China's leading e-commerce platforms are shifting their loyalty strategies from broad discount campaigns toward paid memberships, tiered benefits, personalized services, and cross-platform engagement. Alibaba reported that its 88VIP membership exceeded 59 million during the December quarter of 2025, representing double-digit year-on-year growth among its highest-spending customers.
JD Plus also remains central to JD.com's customer retention strategy, combining rebates, exclusive prices, coupons, delivery services, returns, lifestyle privileges, and partner benefits. As consumers become more selective and promotional events generate weaker incremental returns, platforms are focusing on retention, purchase frequency, basket expansion, and measurable member economics.
Alibaba's tiered Taobao loyalty program, introduced in August 2025, demonstrates the growing importance of integrated ecosystems. The program connects Taobao, Tmall, Ele.me, Fliggy, Amap, and 88VIP, providing benefits across shopping, food delivery, mobility, and travel. This approach is raising the competitive bar for JD.com, Meituan, Trip.com, and traditional retailers.
Restaurant Loyalty Becomes a Core Digital Sales Channel
Restaurant operators are integrating loyalty programs with digital ordering, delivery, promotions, and product development. Yum China reported that combined KFC and Pizza Hut membership surpassed 590 million in 2025, while active membership exceeded 265 million. Member transactions now represent a substantial share of system sales.
Digital loyalty platforms allow restaurant chains to increase visit frequency, distribute personalized offers, test new products, and reduce reliance on third-party customer acquisition. Regulatory scrutiny of food-delivery price competition and excessive subsidies is also expected to encourage a transition from discount-led campaigns toward bundled meals, delivery convenience, exclusive access, and personalized member benefits.
Digital Wallets Expand Offline Loyalty Engagement
China's digital wallets are becoming increasingly important loyalty infrastructure for offline merchants. Ant Group reported that Alipay Tap! exceeded 100 million users in 2025, strengthening Alipay's role in contactless payments, merchant engagement, membership activation, and coupon distribution.
Wallet-linked loyalty enables retailers, restaurants, travel providers, and local service businesses to connect payments with mini-programs, targeted promotions, and membership benefits. This model is particularly attractive to merchants seeking digital loyalty capabilities without investing in standalone applications.
Growth in payment-linked personalization will require stronger consent management, transparent data use, and customer information controls. China's personal information compliance audit rules, effective from May 2025, are expected to increase governance requirements for loyalty platforms and participating merchants.
Travel Loyalty Recovers Alongside Customer Demand
China's travel loyalty sector is benefiting from recovering domestic and outbound travel. Air China reported that PhoenixMiles membership exceeded 100 million in 2025, while Trip.com Group recorded revenue growth across accommodation, transportation, packaged tours, and corporate travel.
Airlines are strengthening frequent-flyer tiers, partner benefits, direct engagement, and redemption options. Online travel agencies are using memberships, travel credits, and rewards to encourage repeat bookings within their platforms. However, increased regulatory scrutiny, including the January 2026 investigation into Trip.com over suspected monopolistic practices, may limit aggressive exclusivity and opaque platform conduct.
Competitive Landscape
China's loyalty program market is highly competitive and increasingly controlled by large digital ecosystems. Major participants include Alibaba through Taobao, Tmall, 88VIP, Ele.me, and Fliggy; JD.com through JD Plus; Ant Group through Alipay; Yum China through KFC and Pizza Hut; H World through H Rewards; Air China through PhoenixMiles; and Trip.com through its travel engagement programs.
Rather than attracting large numbers of standalone coalition loyalty entrants, the market is seeing established platforms convert existing customer traffic, payment relationships, and app engagement into broader loyalty ecosystems. Competition is expected to intensify over the next two to four years, accompanied by greater discipline in subsidies, platform conduct, privacy compliance, and data governance.
Report Coverage
The China loyalty market report provides a data-centric assessment of loyalty spending, program structures, platform economics, consumer participation, and competitive dynamics. It includes more than 100 key performance indicators covering market value, growth, penetration, enrollment, redemption, breakage, membership structures, and channel adoption.
Key areas of analysis include:
China loyalty market size and growth forecasts from 2021 to 2030. Retail, e-commerce, and point-of-sale market context. Loyalty spending across schemes, platforms, sectors, and channels. Point-based, tiered, cashback, subscription, paid, community, referral, gaming, and mission-driven programs. In-store, online, and mobile loyalty activity. Retail, financial services, healthcare, restaurants, food delivery, travel, hospitality, telecommunications, media, and entertainment. Free, premium, and hybrid membership structures. Seller-driven and payment-instrument-driven loyalty models. Embedded and non-embedded loyalty programs. AI-enabled and blockchain-enabled loyalty activity. Cloud and on-premise loyalty platform deployment. In-house, third-party, custom-built, and off-the-shelf solutions. Consumer analysis by age, income, and gender. Program penetration, enrollment channels, motivations, redemption, and breakage rates.
Strategic Value
The report enables organizations to evaluate the size, structure, and direction of China's loyalty industry while identifying growth opportunities across digital commerce, payments, restaurants, retail, and travel. Historical data and forecasts through 2030 support market modeling, investment analysis, competitive benchmarking, partnership planning, and executive decision-making.
Its sector-by-channel analysis helps businesses compare loyalty engagement across physical stores, online platforms, and mobile applications. Platform-level coverage also supports evaluation of software use cases, deployment models, vendor strategies, analytics capabilities, and AI-driven personalization.
As China's loyalty market develops, competitive advantage will increasingly depend on integrated customer experiences, measurable retention, relevant benefits, transparent pricing, and responsible data management. Companies capable of combining commerce, payments, logistics, entertainment, hospitality, and personalized services are positioned to capture a greater share of a market forecast to exceed US$112 billion by 2030.
Key Attributes
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