What Selfridges Unlocked reveals about the future of retail loyalty

When Harry Gordon Selfridge founded the iconic British department store in 1909, he famously gifted keys to his very first customers to symbolise that everyone was welcome at the store.

The inclusive spirit behind this story is alive and well at Selfridges today, which relaunched its Selfridges Unlocked loyalty program earlier this year to reward customers not only for spending money with the retailer, but also for spending time. Selfridges calls it a world-first concept in the realm of retail loyalty programs.

“We had to think really hard about how to invent something that was right for the brand, that was really unique and that was fit for the future of how people want to engage with businesses,” Leonie Foster, Selfridges’ chief operating officer, explained on a behind-the-scenes tour of Selfridges at the World Retail Congress.

“We resisted the more traditional format of loyalty schemes,” Foster added. Instead, Selfridges Unlocked is “a reflection of the experiential aspect of the brand, and the fact that we genuinely value the time that customers choose to spend with us, and not just the money.”

The move comes at a time when many retailers are seeking to forge more meaningful relationships with their customers that go beyond the transaction. Increasingly, retailers view loyalty programs as a way to solidify those relationships, while also gathering valuable customer data and insights.

Selfridges’ new strategy

The first iteration of Selfridges Unlocked debuted as a typical spend-to-earn program in July 2023. Under the new program, launched in February, loyalty members, called Keyholders, can collect ‘keys’ for every £50 ($103) they spend in-store or online, as well as for participating in a range of services and events, including visiting the cinema at Selfridges’ London flagship, dining at one of the retailer’s in-store restaurants, or booking a concierge experience, such as a personalised makeup session or a floristry workshop.

Depending on the number of keys a member collects in a given year, they can access different rewards: from early access to customer experiences and complimentary delivery on online orders to exclusive access to Keyholder sales and offers, welcome and birthday gifts and – for top-tier members known as VSPs (a very Selfridges person) – entry to the Selfridges Lounge, a dedicated concierge service, and much more.

“It’s possible to get to the VSP tier without spending a penny, which I think just shows how we’ve tried to make the experience genuinely open to all,” Foster said, noting that members can collect keys by booking skateboarding sessions and recycling their empty beauty containers in-store, both of which are completely free.

Because the program is unique, the retailer built Selfridges Unlocked in-house.

“I wouldn’t call Selfridges a particularly tech-forward business, but it’s given us an enormous amount of flexibility to think about how we take it forward,” Foster shared.

“We could fire up the key-collecting mechanism to be relevant to a launch on the third floor of the store tomorrow, and to the launch of an experience on the first floor the next day.”

As of February, the program had more than 1.3 million active members, and the company plans to continue adding new ways for customers to collect keys.

Unlocking the future of loyalty

Loyalty program expert Adam Posner said that, for the past three to five years, there has been a noticeable shift in retail from offering ‘points for transactions’ to offering ‘points for interactions’.

“Points for ‘doing not buying’ is not such a secret anymore and should be a relevant part of every program design, to form a more meaningful and ongoing engagement with members beyond the purchase,” Posner, founder and CEO of The Point of Loyalty, told Inside Retail.

“However, programs still need to be brilliant at the basics. Provide a compelling and simple financial offer (financial currency), then augment that with any of the other eight ‘currencies of collection’ members care about, as identified in the latest 2025 For Love or Money research.”

Besides financial rewards, the other eight ‘currencies of collection’ include experiences, moments of joy and delight, time and convenience, personalisation, choice, meaningful causes, community and data privacy.

These types of rewards are particularly important to younger members of loyalty programs, who are seeking more emotional connections with brands, Posner’s research has found.

“They are seeking more belonging, not belongings. They want community connection, where relevant, as not all brands can build community,” he shared.

At the same time, younger consumers still care about the value and financial benefits of membership, including instant points and gamified engagement. “The brands and programs they engage with must also be where they are, in their pocket,” Posner added.

Three keys to success

To truly unlock the power of loyalty programs in the years ahead, Posner said that retailers need to understand the financials and metrics that matter.

“Not members vs non-members,” he explained. “Know the profit of the program, the key metrics of success, such as net member growth, activity, benefit redemptions and incremental spend, plus the revenue drivers – spend and frequency are [two of them]. One not often realised is the ‘cost of lost opportunity’, and that is the cost of losing a member based on their potential spend.”

Posner also suggested reviewing the proposition with members and looking for changes in preferences by different segments and generational cohorts. Finally, retailers shouldn’t forget to engage their store teams.

“If they don’t care about the program, then the program will suffer,” he said.

Retail’s most creative loyalty programs

Selfridges isn’t the only company tearing up the loyalty rulebook. Here are two other retailers rewarding customers in creative ways.

• Rip Curl: In addition to offering points for purchases, referrals and product reviews, surfing brand Rip Curl rewards its members every time they go for a surf. Customers simply need to paddle out while wearing a Rip Curl Search GPS Surf watch, and they can earn points when they upload their data to the app. Since launching as a pilot program in five stores in 2022, Club Rip Curl has expanded across Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada, and as of July 2024, it had over 220,000 members.
• Twoobs: Australian footwear brand Twoobs is serious about reducing its environmental impact, so instead of using its Goody Two Shoes loyalty program to incentivise customers to buy products they don’t really need, it rewards them for making better choices and learning more about sustainability. Customers can earn points for watching documentaries about climate change and fashion waste, as well as for following the brand on social media, reviewing purchases and referring friends.

This story first appeared in the August 2025 issue of Inside Retail Australia magazine.

The post What Selfridges Unlocked reveals about the future of retail loyalty appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.