It's raining rewards points as e-retailers chase loyalty
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. BENGALURU : E-retailers are widening the scope of their loyalty programmes to capture everyday spending on food, groceries, and daily essentials, giving reward points a life beyond air miles and luxury splurges.
The shift, according to industry executives, reflects a structural behavioural change rather than just a seasonal gimmick. Amit Koshal, founder and chief executive of rewards platform TWID, noted that his platform saw food and groceries deliver the highest average savings for users in 2025, at about 8% of order value, exceeding savings from bill payments, e-commerce, and even travel.
TWID works with merchants across categories, including food-delivery platform Swiggy, e-commerce platform JioMart, fashion e-retailer Myntra, and travel portal MakeMyTrip. “More than 5 billion reward points were redeemed across our network this year, unlocking over ₹100 crore in value, signalling a move from occasional, high-ticket redemptions to routine, everyday usage," Koshal told Mint.
The rise in redemption frequency, even as per-transaction ticket sizes have moderated, suggests reward points are increasingly being used for regular expenses rather than saved for indulgences. In that sense, rewards are beginning to function as “embedded liquidity" at checkout, meaning a soft budgeting layer that helps households smooth spending without altering consumption patterns, according to Koshal.
For fintech Razorpay Inc.-backed payments platform POP, which rewards users with POPcoins for routing UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions through it, beauty, personal care, and food are the top spend categories, with repeat rates rising sharply as affordability improves. “India is a value-centric
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