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Key Takeaways What started as a customer perk has quietly become one of the most powerful assets in modern commerce.
Founders who misunderstand this shift risk building growth strategies on the wrong side of trust.
For decades, retailers trained us to believe loyalty cards were a favor. Swipe here, save a dollar. Enter your phone number, get points. Buy ten, get one free.
But that story is incomplete — and for founders, increasingly dangerous to misunderstand.
What retailers actually built was one of the most powerful data engines in modern commerce, and many consumers and entrepreneurs still fail to grasp its implications.
As someone who has spent years inside the data economy — designing systems, advising enterprises and now warning about their excesses — I can say this plainly: loyalty programs are no longer about loyalty. They are about leverage.
And for entrepreneurs, leverage is never neutral.
From coupons to corporate assets
Loyalty programs started innocently enough. In the 1980s and 1990s, they helped retailers understand basic purchasing behavior: what sells, when it sells and to whom.
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