Bakery loyalty program: when a customer spends €3 every day

A bakery loyalty program has to handle three things: small purchases, frequent visits and a morning queue that must not slow down. So give a stamp for one specific product rather than for every visit, choose a reward that costs you little, and scan the card while the customer pays.

Per visit or per product

A stamp per visit is simple, but in a bakery the card fills up too fast when a customer comes in every day. A stamp per product, on the other hand, strengthens one item you care about, for example your sourdough loaf. That gives the customer a reason to pick it up along with their rolls. If you are unsure, the difference is explained in detail in Stamp per visit or stamp per product?

Bakery loyalty program: a sample calculation

You know the formula from How many stamps on a loyalty card: the reward cost divided by the number of stamps multiplied by the product price.

Imagine you give a stamp for a €4 sourdough loaf. You set the card to 8 stamps. The reward is not another loaf but a cinnamon swirl that you bake every day and that costs you €0.50. The effective discount is 0.50 ÷ (8 × 4) = 1.6%. A customer who buys the loaf twice a week gets the reward in four weeks.

The reward should come from today's bake, not the leftovers. Customers notice when they get yesterday's.

What to stamp and what never to stamp

• Stamp: one or two signature products that define your bakery, and products with a good margin that you want to sell more often.
• Never stamp: evening bags of discounted pastries, products on promotion, chilled drinks from other brands, or business orders paid by invoice.

The morning queue must not stop

Between seven and eight in the morning there is no time for explanations. Scan the card while the customer pays at the terminal, so the stamp barely holds up the queue. In Rewardly you can do this in the staff scanner app or through a connected POS.

Do not ask about the card at rush hour. A QR code at the till with one sentence is enough, for example "A stamp for every sourdough loaf, after eight you get a cinnamon swirl on us". Save the conversation about the card for quieter hours around lunch or in the afternoon. If you still use paper cards, the steps for switching are in How to switch from paper loyalty cards to digital without complaints.

Two messages for your customers

Rewardly push notifications appear on the lock screen of everyone who has your card. They are included in the Advanced plan and higher. Suggested wording:

Croissants are just out of the oven. They are still warm until nine.

You can order Christmas baking until 18 December, in the shop or by phone.

The second message only reminds people of the deadline. You take orders the way you always do.

Other mechanics for food and drink businesses, such as points or cashback, are compared in 7 best loyalty mechanics for food and drink.

A stamp card for your bakery in 2 minutes, try Rewardly for €0

No upfront payment, and customers add it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.