Cobrand credit card programs are designed to increase revenues and customer loyalty by rewarding cardholders for repeat visits and higher spend. Cobrand cards date back to the mid-1980s — and today there are more than 150 cobrand card programs across airlines, hotels, and retail brands.
But do they actually drive customer loyalty?
One common question about cobrand programs is how much more often do cardholders spend with a brand — and how much more do they spend? Our payments tracking panel, which continuously captures actual credit card and debit card purchase and spending activity from a nationwide sample of more than 200,000 U.S. consumers, sheds new light on the impact of cobrand card relationships.
Comparing customers of retail or travel brands that own that brand’s cobrand card to customers that don’t have the card, the pattern is clear. Across several major categories, cobrand credit card customers spend more at the brand, have more repeat visits, and display stronger brand loyalty.
Our recent analysis of actual consumer spending patterns shows that:
- Airline customers with an airline cobrand spend more than three times as much on airlines than those without an airline card.
- Hotel customers with a hotel cobrand spend nearly four times as much on hotels than those without a hotel card.
- Travel cobrands also capture a significant share of total cardholder wallet.
- Retail customers with a retail cobrand card spend 84% more on retail purchases than those without a retail card..
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