British households are increasingly turning to online membership and rewards programmes to stretch their budgets on everyday essentials, with the upcoming Budget just weeks away.
Loyalty spending outpaces essentials
As families across the UK keep a close watch on their finances, new payments data from Barclays reveals that monthly consumer spending on rewards-based goods and services has grown by an average of 5% a year over the past three years.
This surge in loyalty-driven shopping has significantly outpaced spending growth on traditional essentials such as fuel, groceries, childcare, and education, which rose by just 0.75% annually over the same period. It also beat growth in non-essential categories like entertainment and beauty products, which saw a 2% annual increase.
Retailers compete for savvy shoppers
Retailers are seeing the benefits of this shift as cost-conscious online shoppers hunt for schemes that offer guaranteed savings. Industry figures show that Amazon Prime's paid membership base continued its upward trajectory last month, surpassing 250 million users globally. The retail giant also scored highly in the UK's Best Customer Service 2026 Rankings, maintaining an overall customer sentiment rating of 87.4 out of 100.
Rival international marketplace AliExpress is also vying for savvy British shoppers with the launch of its new Elite rewards scheme. Positioned as a free, earned loyalty programme, the initiative offers members discounts across tens of millions of eligible products alongside faster 30-day delivery.
Retailers bank on autumn perks
"Elite is our way of thanking the shoppers who choose AliExpress time and again," said Eric Zhang, Vice President of AliExpress. "We want membership to offer practical value that customers can use as they shop, so we've made it free to join and focused the benefits on savings and convenience. Members can get extra savings on millions of eligible products, access bigger discounts on Elite Day and enjoy simpler returns."
With major autumn shopping events approaching, retailers are banking on these perks to keep British consumers spending despite wider economic caution.
"As we head into 11.11, eligible members will have another opportunity to save: on eligible products, they can combine their Elite discount with sale prices," Zhang added. "We'll continue looking for ways to make shopping on AliExpress more rewarding for the people who keep coming back."
