You're feeling pretty smug. You've waited for the double-points weekend, you've got a cashback offer loaded, and you're buying something you needed anyway. You’ve got this loyalty thing on lock-down.
Then a friend casually points out that if you'd paid with a different bank card and stacked another rewards programme, you could have got twice the value.
Suddenly, your very savvy loyalty strategy isn't looking quite so savvy.
Research shows that South Africans love their loyalty programmes, with 85% of South Africans actively using them (up from 82% the previous year), according to the Truth & BrandMapp South African Loyalty Whitepaper 2025/6. But signing up is the easy part. Getting the most value from these programmes can be another story, says Byron Rode, founder and CEO of (my)cards, part of Glynt. “It can be hard to keep track of all the variables involved.
“With the average South African belonging to more than ten programmes, there can be a surprising amount of value scattered across our wallets, phones and apps. The key is maximising the ones you’re already using, so you can unlock more of the value available to you.”
Rode shares five ways to make your loyalty programmes work a little harder for you.
1. Know when your points expire
There’s nothing particularly rewarding about discovering that the points you spent months accumulating expired last week.
With multiple loyalty programmes operating under different rules, it’s surprisingly easy to lose value simply because you didn’t know there was a deadline attached to it. Check the expiry rules of the programmes you use most often and set a calendar reminder a few weeks before points or cashback are due to lapse. You’ve already done the spending required to earn that value – don’t lose it because you forgot to use it.
2. Make your programmes easy to access
The best loyalty programme in the world can’t reward you if the card is sitting at home.
As our phones increasingly replace physical wallets for everyday payments, there’s less and less sense in carrying a separate stack of plastic loyalty cards. (my)cards is an app that brings the loyalty cards you already use into one place on your phone, making them easier to access when you reach the till. Best of all, it works across most loyalty, rewards and membership cards that include a barcode or QR code.
And while one forgotten scan might not feel significant, think about a year of grocery shops, pharmacy visits, fuel stops and coffees.
Those small missed opportunities can – and will – add up in lost value.
3. Don’t spend R100 to save R10
Extra points for buying two items. Bonus rewards if you reach a spending threshold. A 'buy two, get one free' offer when you really only came in for one.
Loyalty programmes are designed to influence behaviour, and a deal that looks like a saving can very quickly make you spend more. Before chasing the reward, ask yourself: Would I have bought this anyway?
If the answer is no, those extra points probably aren’t saving you money. The smartest use of loyalty is getting more value from spending you were already going to do.
4. Stack your rewards where you can
One purchase can sometimes earn value in more than one place. You might scan a supermarket loyalty card at the till, for example, and then pay with a bank card linked to a separate rewards programme.
Get to know which of your programmes can legitimately work together and you may be able to earn retailer and banking rewards on the same planned spend. You don’t need to engineer your shopping around points; just make the money you were going to spend anyway work a little harder.
5. Make sure the right card isn’t in the wrong wallet
You do the grocery shop. Your partner fills up the car. Someone else pops into the pharmacy on the way home. Household spending rarely falls neatly to one person, so why should the loyalty cards?
Where the loyalty programme permits it, (my)cards also allows users to share cards digitally, meaning a frequently used card doesn’t have to be stuck in one person’s physical wallet. It’s a particularly useful feature for households that split everyday errands – and means fewer rewards missed simply because the person doing the shopping wasn’t the person carrying the card.
