Grocery store loyalty programs have always been a high-frequency, low-margin game. But in 2025, the stakes have never been higher. With AI redefining personalization, supply chain volatility pushing prices, and customers demanding omnichannel experiences, grocery retailers must evolve beyond points and discounts. Loyalty is no longer just about retention – it’s about building an ecosystem that anticipates needs, rewards behavior, and earns trust at scale.
Shoppers are more selective than ever, favoring grocers that offer real value, digital convenience, and consistent product availability, whether in-store or online. As competition heats up, grocery retailers must double down on loyalty strategies that deliver both retention and revenue.
In this article, we explore the 10 best grocery store loyalty programs in 2025 and analyze what makes them effective in today’s challenging retail environment.
In 2025, the grocery industry finds itself at the crossroads of disruption and reinvention. Tariffs, inflationary pressures, AI-driven personalization, and a highly competitive omnichannel retail landscape have forced even the most traditional grocers to rethink how they engage and retain their customers. Loyalty programs, once simple “points for purchases” schemes, are now fully-fledged customer relationship ecosystems — blending personalization, convenience, and increasingly, purpose.
Below, we explore 10 grocery loyalty programs that have evolved or launched significant updates in the past year, each reflecting the new demands of modern grocery shoppers.
Kroger’s “Boost” program represents one of the most advanced evolutions in U.S. grocery loyalty. Built as a paid-tier add-on to the retailer’s already-robust free loyalty scheme, Boost offers loyal shoppers benefits like free delivery, double fuel points, early access to promotions, and exclusive savings. Two membership tiers – $59 and $99 annually – cater to differing household needs, with the premium tier focusing on high-frequency shoppers and families.
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In 2025, Kroger expanded Boost’s benefits to include senior citizen-specific savings and dynamic, AI-driven personalization at both national and local levels. The use of real-time behavioral data allows the platform to push relevant offers, recommend substitutions, and generate basket-level incentives. The performance has been strong: Boost members show markedly higher engagement and a longer lifetime value, thanks in part to the frictionless integration with Kroger’s app and ecommerce channels.
Albertsons Companies revamped its loyalty architecture to create “Albertsons for U,” a streamlined program focused on customer convenience, cross-brand integration, and immediate value. Unlike traditional punch-card or spend-based programs, this initiative is rewarding customers with instant discounts at checkout, personalized free item offers, and birthday perks.
The 2025 upgrade brings AI-powered meal planning tools into the experience. By analyzing past purchases and dietary filters, the system can suggest meals, automatically generate shopping lists, and apply digital discounts in real time. Loyal shoppers using the service reportedly spend more per trip and return more frequently. What sets Albertsons for U apart is its seamless applicability across multiple grocery brands (Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco), giving program members a unified experience across hundreds of locations.
Publix’s loyalty platform, Club Publix, continues to focus on ease and value – two things its customer base highly values. It provides early access to weekly ads and exclusive coupons that are easy to activate and redeem through the app.
What’s new in 2025 is the program’s growing focus on wellness-based rewards. Members can now earn points or discounts for purchasing healthy foods, joining challenges (e.g., step counts, plant-based days), or engaging with seasonal wellness promotions. This alignment with broader health trends helps Publix position itself as not just a grocery store, but a wellness partner.
My H-E-B, the retailer’s mobile-first loyalty initiative, offers smart digital coupons, predictive list tools, and localized offers tied to store behavior.
In 2025, the retailer added a new family-sharing feature, which allows household members to pool loyalty points and benefits perfect for multi-generational families or roommates. Perhaps most compelling, however, is H-E-B’s focus on values-based loyalty: shoppers can opt to donate their loyalty points to local food banks or schools, reinforcing brand trust and emotional connection.
Amazon leverages its vast data and logistics ecosystem to make Amazon Fresh via Prime one of the most convenient grocery loyalty solutions available today. Loyal customers enjoy free delivery, access to AI-powered substitutions and product suggestions, and dynamic pricing based on inventory, shopping habits and household preferences.
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New for 2025 is Amazon’s “Green Rewards” initiative, offering loyalty credits for low-emission delivery windows or for choosing sustainable packaging. By gamifying sustainable behavior, Amazon turns logistics efficiency into a loyalty benefit. With a vast data infrastructure already in place, Amazon can personalize grocery recommendations with unmatched precision — though its long-term success still hinges on shopper trust and privacy.
Lidl’s omnichannel loyalty program, Lidl Plus, has become a key part of its strategy across Europe and in select U.S. markets. It emphasizes simplicity, offering scratch cards, digital coupons, and weekly surprise offers directly through the app.
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In 2025, Lidl added budget tracking tools, digital receipts, and deal alerts based on store location behavior. These updates are especially valuable to budget-conscious shoppers, a demographic that has grown as economic uncertainty lingers.
The Co-op grocery store in the UK overhauled its traditional “member pricing” model in favor of a new cashback-based loyalty system in 2025 following member feedback and new customer preferences. Members now earn cashback on select Co-op-branded products, credited to a digital wallet inside the Co-op app.
This new system also includes community-giving features – allowing members to allocate part of their cashback to local charities – as well as gamified tasks, digital receipts, and member-only pricing alerts.
Tesco’s Clubcard loyalty program is one of the most established programs in Europe, and it has remained competitive by integrating AI and personalized rewards into its loyalty framework. Clubcard Prices now adjust dynamically at the shelf level via smart digital signage, and the mobile app includes a new Tesco AI Assistant that helps users build shopping lists and find personalized deals.
Tesco’s loyalty data strategy is particularly notable: by collecting and analyzing granular purchase data, the company can offer tailored value at scale – and tie that value to partnerships across travel, fuel, and dining. With “Clubcard Plus” as a paid tier and “Your Clubcard Prices” launching in 2025, Tesco continues to prove that a mature program can evolve without losing its roots.
Originally a South African innovation, the Smart Shopper program has recently expanded into new markets, including the UK, thanks to loyalty tech partnerships. It blends points collection with banking integration (via FNB), allowing customers to earn additional eBucks when paying with affiliated cards.
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In 2025, the loyalty program introduced mobile-exclusive challenges, specialist clubs (e.g., for wine, pets, wellness), and cross-brand earning through affiliated retailers and fitness partners. It’s one of the few programs that merges financial and grocery loyalty, opening new behavioral incentives and earning paths for loyal customers.
Carrefour’s Bonus loyalty program has become an ecosystem of rewards spanning grocery, fuel points, and pharmacy. In 2025, the company introduced sustainability scoring – shoppers can now earn bonuses and personalized discounts for selecting products with lower carbon impact, such as local produce or minimal packaging.
The Carrefour app uses AI to optimize baskets for price, health, and sustainability, helping shoppers not only save but make more conscious choices. Family accounts allow loyalty to be shared across household members, while real-time deal personalization drives higher app engagement and retention among loyal shoppers.
All best grocery store loyalty programs offer perks and rewards associated with three core drivers of customer loyalty – transactional, emotional, and behavioral value. Here is a quick rundown of top features of rewards program from grocery stores and supermarket chains:
Generic promotions are out. Grocery shoppers now expect offers tailored not just to who they are, but to when, where, and how they shop. AI and machine learning enable this through real-time data processing, allowing grocers to:
The leading programs no longer segment by broad personas – they personalize down to the individual basket. If integrating AI seems like too big of a task for now, try using a composable CDP and connecting it with your Promotion Engine to start personalizing loyalty discounts based on customer data you already have.
Price sensitivity is high, but a race to the bottom on discounts is unsustainable. Instead, many retailers and top grocery loyalty programs offer layered value:
Loyalty must follow the customer – not the channel. Whether a shopper is in-store, buying online for curbside pickup, or scanning products via app, their rewards, customer preferences, and data should travel with them. This means:
Loyalty programs are fundamentally data exchanges. In a privacy-conscious world, grocery retailers must be transparent, ethical, and smart with how they handle personal data:
Attention is scarce, and grocery shopping is routine. To drive frequency and engagement, leading loyalty programs employ subtle gamification tactics:
No grocer or supermarket chain operates in isolation. The most advanced programs extend loyalty beyond their four walls and boost repeat purchases by partnering with:
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