Polygon Labs, the entity behind blockchain giant Polygon (MATIC), released a whitepaper that indicates the hottest trends and narratives in the segment of digital loyalty programs. The whitepaper studies paradigm shifts in how people join, participate and benefit from loyalty programs as well as how blockchains can help here.

Polygon, Google Cloud, Accenture published whitepaper on Web3 in loyalty programs

In a partnership with Google Cloud and Accenture, Polygon Labs co-authored the comprehensive whitepaper on Web3's role in loyalty programs, Polygon cofounder Sandeep Nailwal shared on X. The document discusses case studies of Polygon's partners Nike and Flipkart, as well as the general status of the industry.

The document prioritizes the concept of "experience-led" or "experience-centric" loyalty programs over familiar "product-focused" ones. According to the researchers, old-fashioned community programs are "racing to the bottom" now: less than 50% loyalty points are redeemed successfully.

That is why Web3 integration matters: the core tenets of the segment - security, verified ownership, transparency - are perfectly aligned with those of successful loyalty programs. 

Using blockchains for loyalty programs brings improved attractiveness and data insights from loyalty programs
through multi-company reward initiatives. Also, it might unlock new experiences and engagement channels by tokenizing privilege, collectibles and UCG, as well as new revenue streams on secondary markets.

Polygon's stack of use cases for such companies includes SWOOSH, a platform for digital sneakers branded by Nike.

Polygon bets big on loyalty programs with Nubank, Nike, Flipkart partnerships

Brands have plenty of ways to benefit from integrating Web3 into their loyalty programs at scale. Besides increased scalability, such programs come with reduced costs, an enhanced user experience and can even be expanded to previously unseen use cases.

As covered by U.Today previously, Polygon (MATIC) is known as a pioneer of building large-scale loyalty programs on-chain.

In 2023, it onboarded such programs for Nubank and Starbucks. Also, it organized a Reddit Points portal for the most visited U.S. imageboard.