Grocers urged to revamp loyalty programs
Grocers may need to revamp loyalty programs as ai agents dominate purchasing behavior with rewards and discounts becoming ineffective.
A loyalty marketing firm has released guidance urging grocery chains to overhaul their customer reward systems before automated shopping assistants dominate purchasing behavior. The new publication, “Loyalty 3.0 in the Age of Agentic Commerce”, highlights how AI tools increasingly handle everything from product research to full grocery basket assembly for consumers.
Current loyalty incentives—such as points, discounts, and special offers—will become ineffective once AI agents play a decisive role in buying decisions, the report warns. Without adaptation, retailers may be forced into a commoditized role, competing solely on cost and delivery speed.
Overhauling Loyalty Systems
Julie Lyle, a member of TCC Global’s board, emphasized that successful retailers will approach this challenge as a foundational investment rather than a promotional tactic. She cautioned that stores have roughly 18 months to ensure their loyalty programs are structured in a machine-readable format, their data is accurate, and their pricing systems are reliable enough for algorithmic decision-making.
The e-book outlines a dual-phase strategy spanning 18 months. The first phase focuses on making loyalty programs “agent-ready,” which includes standardizing rewards into quantifiable values, refining product and pricing data, developing application programming interfaces (APIs), testing subscription models, and establishing operational safeguards. A structured implementation plan is provided for retailers.
Creating Emotional Connections
The second phase advocates for rewards that support deeper emotional engagement, such as cultural alignment, aspirational benefits, and community-based incentives, to encourage shoppers to direct their AI tools toward a specific retailer’s offerings. Seb Hill, TCC Global’s chief marketing officer, noted that AI agents are shifting grocery competition from capturing consumer attention to securing a place within algorithmic decision-making processes.
The analysis examines current industry developments, including Albertsons’ integration with ChatGPT, Walmart’s AI shopping assistant called Sparky, and Schnucks’s automated shopping tool. It also references exclusive TCC research, a five-step framework for building shopper trust, and key performance indicators like “share of baskets AI-assisted” and “loyalty prompt preference rate.”
By 2030, shoppers relying on AI agents could account for between $190 billion and $385 billion in U.S. online grocery spending, according to projections from Morgan Stanley. The global market for AI shopping agents is expected to expand from $7.8 billion in 2025 to over $50 billion by 2030.
55 percent of consumers would welcome AI automatically reordering everyday household items, and 64 percent are open to AI brand recommendations (Koddi). 43 percent of retailers are already piloting autonomous AI agents, and a further 53 percent are evaluating or exploring use cases (eMarketer). In-store shopping still accounts for 80 percent of U.S. grocery purchases (WGSN), and 4 in 10 U.S. retail executives plan to reinvest in store experience (Deloitte). The report argues that grocery shopping, characterized by frequent, habitual, price-sensitive, and time-critical purchases, is particularly vulnerable to AI delegation.
