Digital loyalty card for retail shops
The collection changes. Your customers need to know.
In a shop, loyalty isn’t built on a weekly frequency but on repurchase: new collection, season, personal date. Points on spend are almost always the right counter. The QR code is presented at the register, during payment.
Free plan: up to 50 customers, no credit card.
The short answer
What kind of loyalty program works for a boutique or small retail shop?
A neighborhood shop — clothing, concept store, home decor — doesn’t have a coffee shop’s frequency. A 10-visit stamp card often takes more than a year. Points on spend move the card forward from the first serious ticket.
The paper card ends up at the bottom of the shopping bag, thrown out with the tissue paper. The Wallet stays.
QR code at the register, at checkout. Nothing to install. Loyalty doesn’t need a branded app: your customers won’t download one more.
The problem
Forget the crumpled paper cards that cheapen your world
In clothing retail, people don’t come in every week. Ten stamps is a year. Points on the ticket, the card in the phone, a QR code at the register.
At the register
The scan while you fold. The customer has the phone to pay, not to install an app.
From one collection to the next
Six weeks, sometimes three months. The paper card is lost. The card in the Wallet isn’t.
For the shop
You see who really comes back, beyond the customers you’re on a first-name basis with.
The paper card
A crumpled card has no place next to a carefully curated collection. It gets lost between two seasons, and you invite no one to private sales.
With Cartia
A card with flawless finishes in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, in your colors.
Setting up
Set up your loyalty card at your shop
Points on the ticket
€1 = 1 point. A coat should move the card forward more than a pair of socks.
A money voucher, not a percentage
A €15 voucher at 200 points. An accessory or a free alteration also works, as long as the value is announced — not a vague 10% on the whole shop.
QR code at the register
While you’re folding, not in the fitting room. The fitting room isn’t the moment.
Validate at checkout
Scan from Cartia Counter. Points follow the day’s amount.
A smooth scan at checkout
At the counter
The gesture fits in while the bag is being closed. No card to stamp on 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
The right rhythm isn’t the week, it’s the collection
Writing that a shop retains “its weekly regulars” describes a grocery store. Repurchase here follows other clocks: a collection arriving, a change of season, a personal date, sometimes just the moment the previous piece wore out. A customer who comes back three times a year can be an excellent customer — and will never fill a ten-stamp card.
That’s why the program mainly serves to know who is active and who no longer is. From Pro, your customers split into segments — those who came back recently, those nearing their reward, those who disappeared — and you can write to any of them. What Cartia doesn’t do is measure your revenue or your return on investment: those numbers stay in your register.
- Active customersCame back recently, progress under way. The message that works here is the preview: they’re already inclined to return.
- Customers to reactivateNo visit for a long time. A segment the paper card never let you isolate, because a lost card looks like a lost customer.
- A card with your brandName, logo and colors can be set from the Free plan. In the customer’s wallet, it’s your shop that appears next to their bank card — not a generic pass.
A shop’s year: sales, collections, gifts
Repurchase in a shop follows the fashion and gift calendar, not the week. Each peak brings a different type of customer, and the card doesn’t serve the same purpose for each.
- January and July, the salesCustomers who only come for the sales. Points follow the amount paid: a sale piece moves the card less, with no rule to add. Those who sign up that day then receive your new arrivals.
- March and September, the collectionsThe two moments when your customers have a reason to come back. From Pro, a message to active customers on delivery day gives them the preview.
- November and December, the giftsPeople buy for others, often with you for the first time. Offer the card to those customers too: the €15 voucher brings them back in January, for themselves this time.
- Date of birthIf the customer has filled it in, from Pro a message goes out automatically a few days before, at the time you choose. A gesture the paper card never allowed.
The calculation
How many extra sales would cover the subscription?
With the assumptions below — €55 basket, 55% gross margin — a single extra sale 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 · €30.25 margin per sale
With these assumptions, the break-even point is
1 sale / month
Beyond this threshold, the margin generated would cover the cost of the Pro plan. Formula: plan price ÷ (average basket × gross margin) = €29.90 ÷ €30.25.
- +562sales over the year
- €2,574more revenue each month, with this assumption
- €0.98per day for the Pro subscription
Illustrative estimate, not a revenue promise. Starting assumptions at your shop: average basket €55, 55% 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 shop
How do I set up a loyalty card at a retail shop?
You create a points program, put a QR code at the register, and validate each ticket from a phone. Your customers install nothing.
Why not “10 visits = 1 free”?
Because in a shop people don’t come in often enough. Ten visits is often more than a year. Points on the ticket move the card forward from the first sizable purchase.
Do sale purchases earn points?
Yes, on the amount paid: points follow the day’s ticket. A sale item therefore moves the card forward less than a full-price item, without any rule for you to add.
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 retail shop 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.
Retail shop 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