Loyalty program

A loyalty program is a scheme that rewards customers based on how often they buy or how much they spend, through points, membership tiers or exclusive offers, so they keep coming back. Vietnamese law calls it a “regular customer program” and classifies it as a form of sales promotion.

What is a loyalty program?

Vietnam’s Decree 81/2018/ND-CP describes a regular customer program as giving rewards based on the quantity or value of goods and services a customer has bought, recorded on a customer card, a purchase record or another form (Decree 81/2018/ND-CP, Article 14, May 2018).

Types of loyalty programs

• Points: each order earns points, which can be exchanged for gifts or discounts.
• Tiers: the more a customer spends in a period, the higher the tier.
• Partner (coalition) programs: customers also earn when they spend with partners, such as a bank card.

Starbucks Rewards in the US combines points and tiers: Green members earn 1 Star per USD 1, Gold members 1.2 Stars and Reserve members 1.7 Stars. Reaching Gold takes 500 Stars within the first 12 months (Starbucks Rewards Terms of Use, effective March 2026).

Lotusmiles, Vietnam Airlines’ program, has 5 tiers, from Silver to Million Miler. Platinum requires 50,000 qualifying miles or 50 qualifying segments within 12 consecutive months (Vietnam Airlines, Tier benefits and eligibility, accessed October 2026).

Work out the reward cost before launch (hypothetical)

A coffee chain gives 1 point for every VND 10,000. With 50 points, which means spending VND 500,000, the customer gets a free drink worth VND 50,000.

• At menu price, the reward equals 10% of spend. If the drink costs the shop VND 15,000 to make, the real cost is 15,000 / 500,000 = 3% of revenue.
• If 40% of points expire unused, the cost falls to about 1.8%.

The harder question is whether the program makes customers buy more. Research by Grahame Dowling and Mark Uncles concluded that most loyalty schemes do not fundamentally change market structure; they can help brands that already hold share keep customers, at the cost of higher marketing spend (MIT Sloan Management Review, Do Customer Loyalty Programs Really Work?, 1997).

A simple test: hold back a randomly chosen group of customers from member benefits for 3 months, then compare purchase frequency and churn rate between the two groups. Decide who goes into which tier using customer segmentation, for example RFM scores.

Legal and data rules in Vietnam

Article 14 of Decree 81/2018 requires the card or record to store customer information, the conditions for taking part, and the quantity and value of goods bought as the basis for rewards.

Decree 128/2024/ND-CP (effective December 1, 2024) removed the notification step for many forms of promotion, but loyalty programs must still be notified to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade where they run at least 3 working days before launch. They are exempt if the total value of prizes and gifts is under VND 100 million, or if the business sells and promotes only through ecommerce marketplaces (EY Vietnam, Tax update, January 2025).

Members’ phone numbers, birthdays and purchase history are personal data and fall under the Personal Data Protection Law No. 91/2025/QH15 (see our guide to Vietnam’s personal data protection law for marketers).

Loyalty program vs related terms

Frequently asked questions

How should a small shop start a loyalty program?

Start with points tied to a phone number and a reward that is easy to grasp, for example 10% off the fifth order. Add tiers later, once you know how many customers are in the high-spending group.

Can you run a membership program when you sell on marketplaces?

The customer data then sits with the marketplace, so you use the tools it provides. Our Shopee CRM case study covers the customer retention tools Shopee offers sellers.

If you need ads that bring new customers into a membership program on your website or a marketplace, see Adtek’s Brand Commerce page.