Dive Brief:

• Foot Locker announced last week it will be rolling its existing loyalty programs into an overarching new one, dubbed FLX, which will operate across all Foot Locker brands, including Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Footaction, Eastbay and Champs Sports, according to details the company emailed to Retail Dive. 

• The program is set to launch in February, and has three tiers: X1, X2 and X3, per the website. The tiers are determined by customer spend. All shoppers are able to receive X1 status, customers who spend between $300 and $499 per year qualify for X2, and customers who spend $500 or more annually with the retailer achieve X3. 

• All FLX members will receive free shipping with no minimums, "Head Starts" on new sneaker launches, and earn 100 XPoints for every dollar spent on purchases. Members can also earn XPoints for completing online tasks like surveys, preferences and linking social media accounts. The higher tiers have additional benefits, like early access to events or access to invitation-only events.

Dive Insight:

Foot Locker is kicking off the new year with a fresh loyalty program for customers that encourages shopping across its banners. It's an approach that other multi-brand retailers have moved toward recently as well, including Ascena and Gap Inc.

The company said the new program was meant to "provide a more seamless and customer friendly experience — while also rewarding Foot Locker, Inc.'s most loyal customers." Through FLX, members will be able to access rewards through any of the banner's websites or mobile apps, and if customers are currently enrolled in one of the company's loyalty programs, their status in the new program will be automatically decided by the amount they spent the prior year.

Loyalty programs have been the focus of many retailers over the past few years, as they try to balance the right savings benefits with more experiential rewards, like access to exclusive events or products. Indeed, a Gartner study over the summer found that 78% of loyalty programs in 2019 offered experiential rewards, up from 61% the prior year.

Perhaps prompting Foot Locker's loyalty revamp, athletics brands more broadly have been innovating with their approach to loyalty. Reebok in April announced the launch of its first loyalty program, Lululemon has been testing a paid membership model and Nike has frequently expounded on the success of its own loyalty program, which has even led to a members-only store concept.

Foot Locker isn't missing the cue on some of the experiential elements becoming more common in loyalty programs. Higher tiers are tempted with increased access to events and one of the loyalty program's main perks, available to all members, is the ability to earn "Head Starts," which allows customers to reserve new products at Foot Locker, Footaction and Champs Sports.