Discount cards and certificates: a strategy for use in retail in Ukraine

Did you know that 43% to 45% of our daily actions are not conscious decisions, but automatic habits? We buy coffee in the same place, choose a familiar brand, and walk through the supermarket along a route not because we analyze the market every time, but because our brain runs on «autopilot».

In 2026, amid unstable demand and customers’ fatigue from constant promotions, a standard discount has stopped working. The market is flooded with deals, and shoppers simply ignore them.

For a business to grow steadily rather than in spurts, loyalty programs need to change: from a simple price cut to a system that retains the customer and brings them back. This is not about «giving money away», but about a well-designed model that combines financial calculation with an understanding of buyer behavior.

1. A gift for business: the effect of «unused» money in gift certificates

From a financial management perspective, gift certificates are a unique architecture of interest-free financing for a business. It is based on two critical concepts:

• The prepayment effect. When a customer buys a gift certificate, the business receives the money immediately, and delivers the goods or service later. In practice, it is an interest-free prepayment that increases working capital. This money can be used to purchase inventory, open a new location, or cover текущі expenses — without loans and interest.

• The unused-certificate effect. Some gift certificates never get redeemed. According to 2024 data, 10% to 20% of their value remains unused. For a business, it means something simple: the money has already been received, but no goods need to be delivered. These amounts remain on the company’s balance sheet and directly increase financial results.

Despite the temptation to simply wait for the funds to expire, a pragmatic retailer knows: reminding a customer about a certificate is more profitable. Redeeming a certificate triggers an additional sales mechanism (upselling).

Analytics reports indicate that about 60% of customers, when using a certificate, spend an amount significantly higher than its face value, increasing the overall revenue of the point of sale.

2. From points to subscriptions: how "Pliukhs" changes the rules of the game

Today, classic bonus programs are losing effectiveness and giving way to paid loyalty models. One of the most illustrative examples in the Ukrainian market is the «Pliukhs» subscription from the Silpo retail chain.

For UAH 149 per month, the customer gets a set of ongoing benefits. The key effect here is psychological: having paid upfront, the shopper tries to «get the money back» through purchases. As a result, most spending — up to 90% — is concentrated in one chain, which directly increases customer retention.

Subscription benefits that build habit and attachment to the chain:

• 20% cashback in bonuses on in-house bakery and coffee — a daily reason to stop by the store, not a one-off promotion.

• 10% cashback in bonuses on «Lavky Tradytsii» farm products — an emphasis on quality and regular purchases.

• Delivery for UAH 1 up to 4 times per month — removes the logistics friction and стимулиates online orders.

• An extra 4% in bonuses on non-promotional items, including orders via the LOKO service — the customer buys without waiting for discounts.

• Free delivery from Liki24 on orders from UAH 699 — the subscription goes beyond a single store and becomes part of everyday spending.

This is no longer just a discount, but an integration of the brand into the consumer’s lifestyle through omnichannel touchpoints.

3. The habit loop: how retailers switch off your rational brain

Successful loyalty programs are built on a simple principle — the habit loop: cue → action → reward.

Studies often cited at Harvard Business School point to the so-called «23-minute rule»: after this time spent in a store, a shopper analyzes less and acts more emotionally. That is why mobile apps — for example, in EVA or Starbucks — use geolocation as an external cue and send notifications at the moment a person walks past the store.

4. B2B as the "invisible" growth engine

The corporate segment is a key source of stable sales. For example, in the United Kingdom, corporate gift-certificate sales already account for more than 70% of the market.

Working with business clients significantly reduces customer acquisition costs, because one corporate partner can immediately bring dozens or hundreds of end customers. In Ukraine, this model is actively used by corporate gifting services such as Giftmall and Gifti, which supply certificates to companies for staff and customer incentives. A separate financial value is the option to compensate with a certificate instead of issuing a refund: the business keeps the entire amount inside its own sales system and turns a potential cash payout into a future purchase.

5. The «discount on the whole volume» trap: why tiered pricing protects profit

Most retail businesses fall into the «discount on the whole volume» trap, where once a threshold is reached, the price drops for all items at once. In practice, this often eats into profit, even if sales grow.

The math of this trap in a simple example (T-shirts):

• Regular price: UAH 400 per unit (up to 100 pcs.).

• Wholesale price: UAH 320 per unit (from 100 pcs.).

Result:

• For 99 T-shirts the customer pays UAH 39,600.

• For 105 T-shirts — only UAH 33,600.

Business loss: you sold 6 more units, but received UAH 6,000 less in revenue.

The solution is tiered pricing. In this model, the discount applies only to units above the limit: the first 100 units are sold at UAH 400, and the next ones at UAH 320. This approach preserves profit on the base volume and encourages a real increase in purchase size, not just a formal «wholesale» threshold.

In 2026, the advantage goes to an approach where digital tools are at the core of customer work. Discounts and gift certificates should be available in a digital format — in particular, in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet — so the customer can use them in-store or online without extra steps and explanations.

But digitization alone is not enough. Businesses are gradually moving toward loyalty through experience, not through discounts. Instead of another price reduction, customers are offered what cannot be bought directly: faster service, earlier access to new products, or closed events for regular buyers. This is how emotional attachment is formed, which cannot be broken by simple price competition.

And finally, a question for business owners: do you use loyalty programs as a tool for managing customers and their attention, or are you still simply reducing the price, giving up profit for the sake of discounts that shoppers have already gotten used to and stopped valuing?