UK shoppers are ditching old-fashioned loyalty cards and storing their reward schemes on their mobile phones, according to a survey from vendor CloudZync.
The poll of 2000 consumers shows that while the average leather wallet now contains four loyalty cards, people have access to six schemes on their handsets.
Tech-savvy electrical retailers are leading the mobile revolution, with almost two thirds of respondents having access to at least one loyalty scheme from this sector over their phones. In contrast, just 12% of people have a physical card for electrical stores.
Meanwhile, supermarkets are falling behind in the digital race - 92% of respondents have a physical card for Tesco, Sainsbury's or one of their rivals yet only 36% have a mobile scheme.
The research also shows that loyalty card users have on average £83 worth of redeemable points across their schemes at any point in time, and UK shoppers have cashed in on over £4 billion worth of points over the past year.
However, around £150 million in points remain unclaimed. Explaining why, 27% say that it takes too long to start earning benefits, 18% say they don't carry their cards in their wallets, and 14% don't remember to add on their points even when paying in-store.
Andrew Smith, CTO, CloudZync, says: "While it's clear that traditional cards are still doing well in many sectors, retailers that don't embrace smartphones and tablets as part of their loyalty schemes risk being left behind by those businesses that see the opportunity these devices offer to engage consumers in new ways."