Digital loyalty card for grocery stores
Curious customers have to be cultivated. You have to know them first.
At a grocery store, the customer returns regularly but doesn’t spend the same amount twice: points on spend are the fairest counter. The QR code is presented at the register during payment. Cartia replaces neither your register nor your stock management.
Free plan: up to 50 customers, no credit card.
The short answer
What kind of loyalty program works for a neighborhood grocery store?
In a grocery store, a stamp per visit is unfair: the person buying one bottle isn’t the person doing the week’s shopping. Points on the ticket (€1 = 1 point) fit the trade. The threshold is calculated on your average basket, not on a magic number of visits.
The paper card never survived the shopping bags. The Wallet is already there, next to the bank card.
QR code at the register, scan while the receipt prints. Nothing to install. No integration with your register: Cartia runs alongside it.
The problem
Zero paper waste, even for loyalty
A loaf of bread and a €40 basket don’t deserve the same stamp. Points on spend, a QR code at the register, the card in the phone — no app.
At the register
The scan during the receipt. You’re not adding a step in the middle of bagging.
For the big basket
Points recognize the full week. A single stamp put it on the same level as one bottle.
For the grocery store
You see who really keeps the shop alive, beyond the faces at the counter.
The paper card
The paper card contradicts bulk shopping. It gets lost between two shopping trips, and you have no way to announce a new delivery.
With Cartia
An approach in line with responsible neighborhood retail: the card lives in the phone.
Setting up
Set up your loyalty card at your grocery store
Switch to points
€1 spent = 1 point. It’s the only fair mechanic when tickets diverge.
Set the threshold on your average basket
Not “10 visits.” A points threshold your regulars reach in a few weeks.
QR code at the register
Visible while waiting for the receipt, not at the back of an aisle.
Validate at checkout
Scan from Cartia Counter, without plugging into the register.
A check-in that fits within register time
At the counter
The pass is scanned during payment. Nothing to install on the customer’s side, nothing to stamp at the counter.
In the Wallet, not in an app
The card sits next to the bank card, in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. The customer scans the QR code, fills in a short form, and adds it — there is no app to install.
In your business, concretely
What Cartia does, and what it won’t do in place of your register
The grocery store is where confusion is most frequent: because it deals in products, stock and register visits, people expect a loyalty tool to also manage inventory or plug into the checkout software. That’s not what Cartia does, and saying so clearly avoids finding out after installation.
Cartia handles one thing: the customer’s card, what it accumulates, and what you know about their return. Crediting is done from the browser or the home-screen icon, in parallel with your usual checkout — there’s nothing to connect to your register, and nothing that flows back from it.
- The quick stopOne or two items, at the end of the day. Frequent, small. It counts, but it shouldn’t weigh as much as a full grocery run.
- The weekly restockWide basket, high amount. Points represent it properly without needing a second program.
- Announcing an arrival or an offerA product coming in, a one-off promotion: from Pro, you send a notification to your signed-up customers’ Wallet card. The Free plan gives you the loyalty program, not this channel.
The calculation
How many extra visits would cover the subscription?
With the assumptions below — €18 basket, 45% gross margin — 4 extra visits per month would cover the monthly cost of the Pro plan.
Adjust my assumptions
If 10% of visits repeat one more time thanks to the card · €8.10 margin per visit
With these assumptions, the break-even point is
4 visits / month
Beyond this threshold, the margin generated would cover the cost of the Pro plan. Formula: plan price ÷ (average basket × gross margin) = €29.90 ÷ €8.10.
- +936visits over the year
- €1,404more revenue each month, with this assumption
- €0.98per day for the Pro subscription
Illustrative estimate, not a revenue promise. Starting assumptions at your grocery store: average basket €18, 45% gross margin, 26 days open per month. Cartia measures neither your revenue nor your return on investment: replace these values with your own.
Frequently asked questions
Replacing the paper card at your grocery store
How do I set up a loyalty card at a grocery store?
You create a points program, put a QR code at the register, and validate each ticket from a phone. No register integration. Your customers install nothing.
Why not a stamp card?
Because a €3 visit and a €40 visit have nothing in common. Points follow spend.
Does it work with my register?
Yes, alongside it. No integration. You scan from a phone or a browser at checkout.
Do my customers have to download an app?
No. They scan the QR code at the counter, join the program from their browser, then add their card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. No app to install.
How much does a loyalty card for a grocery store cost?
Cartia is free up to 50 customers at one location, no credit card required. Beyond that, the Pro plan is €29.90/month, tax included, with unlimited customers and a 14-day free trial (credit card required to start it), with no setup fees and no per-volume billing.
Related businesses
The same tool, set up for another kind of business
Guides
Set up the program, not just the tool
- Scanning without a networkMarket, food truck, basement shop or Wi-Fi outage: keep scanning digital loyalty cards offline. Included in Cartia Pro at €29.90 a month.
- Drive-to-store: 7 campaignsWin-back, weather, previews, product of the day, reviews, events, rewards: 7 drive-to-store campaigns to bring customers in with a digital loyalty card.
- From paper card to WalletA stamp card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet: what changes for you and your customers, five steps to switch from paper, and what France’s CNIL expects.
- Apple Wallet and Google Wallet in your shopNo app to install, a card that updates at every visit, messages on the lock screen: what Apple Wallet and Google Wallet change for a local shop.
- Increase the average basketThe average basket + 20% rule, progressive tiers and impulse purchases: how to use loyalty tiers to lift what customers spend per visit in your shop.
- Bring back occasional customersFrictionless sign-up, a 30-day win-back, a date-of-birth message, off-peak offers and Google reviews: 5 ways to turn one-time visitors into regulars.
- Profitable loyalty programMargin math, points rules and reward costs: a step-by-step method for designing a profitable loyalty program for your shop.
- Paper vs digital loyalty cardHidden costs, lost cards, win-back notifications: compare the paper stamp card with a digital loyalty card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.
Compare
Cartia compared with other solutions
Pricing, free plan, setup fees and customer journey: the comparisons are detailed solution by solution.
Grocery store loyalty card
The program described above, set up and ready to scan, in five minutes.
Free plan: €0, up to 50 customers, no credit card · Pro and Business: 14-day trial, credit card required to start