Glossary
What is coalition loyalty?
Coalition loyalty is a scheme shared by multiple independent businesses, so a customer joins once and is recognised across all of them. The advantage is reach for small operators; the risk is diluting the relationship between a customer and any one venue.
The model behind airline alliances and supermarket points schemes, and behind any platform where one customer identity spans many venues.
The upside for a small operator
You benefit from a customer who joined somewhere else. A single cafe cannot build network effects on its own.
The risk to manage
If the coalition becomes more prominent than the individual businesses in it, customers become loyal to the scheme rather than to you. The mitigation is keeping each venue’s own programme distinct, so a customer’s progress with you is visibly yours.