Shopper Digest: Retailer Loyalty

Throughout past articles, we have highlighted the importance of understanding who your loyal shoppers are and what influences their behaviour. But there is another layer that’s just as critical: where are they loyal to? This is where Retailer Loyalty comes into play. Understanding where shoppers consistently choose to buy your brand or category can unlock sharper strategies for engaging your key retailers.

So, what is Retailer Loyalty and why does it matter?

Think about a product that you frequently buy – do you normally buy it from the same one or two stores? Or do you visit a lot more stores for that particular product?

If your answer is the former, congratulations! You are a quintessential Malaysian shopper. Across most FMCG categories, Malaysian shoppers typically purchase the same category from fewer than two retailers per year, except for some food categories with higher purchase frequencies.

This is where the concept of retailer loyalty comes in handy, as individual shoppers tend to stick to just a small selection of retailers for their FMCG purchases within a particular category.

Retailer loyalty measures the percentage of a shopper’s total category or brand spend that occurs in a specific retailer. For example, if a Retailer A shopper spends RM100 on a category (across different retailers) within a year and RM45 of that is in Retailer A, then Retailer A has a 45% spend loyalty share for that shopper.

This metric reveals how “sticky” a retailer is for a brand’s buyers — and that stickiness matters. Retailers with higher loyalty are more likely to convert and retain category or brand spend. In short, it tells us which retailers are truly capturing the hearts (and wallets) of our category or brand buyers.

An Example from a Non-Food Category

While investigating the performance of the above Category, we observed that Retailer XYZ stands out with above-average loyalty among Category shoppers. This retailer retained 45% of their shoppers’ category spend, compared to an average of 40% across the top 10 retailers.

For Brand A, Retailer XYZ again leads, with loyalty rising to 72% among its brand shoppers — well above the 59% average across the brand’s top 10 retailers. This suggests that shoppers who buy Brand A in Retailer XYZ tend to keep most of their Brand A purchases within that retailer.

While Brand A consistently ranks either 1st or 2nd among top category retailers in terms of penetration, it ranks 3rd in Retailer XYZ, despite strong loyalty. This shows a clear opportunity for Brand A to activate more effectively in Retailer XYZ, not only to leverage its existing loyalty base in this retailer, but also to capture more new shoppers in this retailer, where shoppers tend to be more loyal.

Leveraging Retailer Loyalty in Joint Business Planning (JBP)

Based on the example above, it is not only an important strategic input for Brand A’s future growth, but it also provides a strong case for the brands to carve out a win-win JBP with its loyal retailers. Here’s how it helps:

• Prioritisation: High-loyalty retailers are the ideal partner for deeper engagement — think exclusive promotions, shopper programs, or visibility investments. For retailers, it’s a signal to retain and recruit shoppers by working with brands their loyal customers already love, rather than risk losing them to competing retailers.
• Gap Identification: Retailers with high loyalty but low penetration or share indicate untapped potential. These are areas where both the brand and retailer can collaborate to convert loyalty into incremental growth.

As brands prepare for their next JBP cycle, integrating retailer loyalty into the conversation can lead to more targeted retailer strategies, stronger partnerships, and ultimately, better business outcomes.

At Worldpanel, we specialize in tracking and understanding real-world shopper decisions over time. Retailer loyalty is just one of the many shopper insights we can help you uncover. Whether you are preparing for your next JBP or looking to sharpen your in-store strategy, our team can support you with tailored analyses that highlight where your brand is winning and where there’s room to grow.

Source:  P6 2025, Malaysia Peninsular Household Panel, Worldpanel by Numerator