The biggest challenge for in-store retailers has been the same for many years. Brands can see what happens on their own websites in detail, but when a customer buys through a store, a stockist, or a third-party retailer, they become harder to track. But selling in all these locations is a key part of most growth journeys. In many cases, customers are fiercely loyal to brands, but the brands do not know it.
This disconnect is easy to underestimate, but it has real consequences. If a brand cannot see who is buying, how often, or in what context, it becomes much harder to reward and retain that customer, or grow a relationship with them. Loyalty exists, but it sits just out of reach. It’s also impossible to build a genuine picture of customer lifetime value with fragmented pieces of the puzzle.
The scale of this gap is significant. In the US, ecommerce sales are projected to reach $1.8tn by 2030, according to Forrester. Even then, online will account for just 29% of total retail sales, with the remaining 71%, around $4.4tn, still happening in physical stores.
Yet many loyalty programs and retention mechanisms are still designed purely for digital transactions. Our research of 4,000 consumers shows that 74% want to be able to use loyalty programs consistently on and offline, but making that work in practice is where most retailers struggle.
The brands that are winning, however, are the ones that connect the dots between consumers shopping across all their channels. Loyalty programs are better placed than ever to support this goal, typically allowing customers to upload proof of purchase in exchange for rewards – no matter where they shopped. If a customer buys a pair of Adidas trainers in Macy’s, not the flagship store on 5th Avenue or adidas.com, they can still collect points and get rewarded for doing so by providing proof of their purchase.
For brands, this is positive in so many ways. They can influence in-store shopping behaviors by promoting the fact that points can still be collected. They can identify all the customers shopping with them – not just those that shop on their owned channels. They can then market to them on an ongoing basis, increasing the likelihood that their next purchase is made directly and staying top of mind in between purchases.
For customers, it creates a more rewarding and consistent experience every time they interact with their favorite brand. They can earn rewards regardless of where they choose to shop, rather than being limited to a brand’s own website or a specific store environment. It reflects the reality that loyalty is not tied to a channel, but to a preference.
This simple addition to loyalty programs offers something more fundamental. It creates a way to recognize loyalty that already exists. Customers who were previously invisible become visible. Purchases that sat outside owned channels can now be captured, understood, and acted on. Customers who were anonymous are motivated to join your loyalty program, unlocking a wealth of opportunities to keep in touch with them between purchases, and influence future behaviors.
Each scanned receipt provides access to first-party data that would otherwise be difficult to reach. Not just confirmation of purchase, but context around what else was bought, when, and where. That allows brands to build a far more complete picture of behavior, particularly in categories where they do not control the final transaction.
This is where the idea of loyalty starts to shift. Rather than trying to drive repeat purchases from unknown shoppers, brands can see who is already choosing them, how often that choice is made, and where there is potential to deepen the relationship. Loyalty becomes less about driving one-off actions and more about recognizing and reinforcing existing behavior.
At the same time, it introduces a slightly different kind of interaction. Unlike automatic point earning at checkout, receipt scanning requires a small action from the customer after the purchase. That extra step creates a moment of engagement. Customers are not just rewarded for buying, but for confirming and sharing that purchase with the brand.
The key is making that interaction feel worthwhile, with faster validation and clear rewards. When done well, it feels like a natural extension of the purchase rather than an added task.
What this points to is a broader shift in how loyalty is evolving. It is no longer confined to owned channels or specific systems. Instead, it is becoming more flexible, more data-led, and more aligned with how people already shop.
Receipt uploads are not a replacement for existing loyalty models, but a useful expansion of them. It allows brands to extend their reach beyond their own environments and, crucially, to recognize the customers who were already choosing them all along. It allows customers to feel valued, wherever they shop.