Dick's bet on paid loyalty should make you rethink yours
Dick's Sporting Goods just launched ScoreCard+, a $99/year paid loyalty tier that hands members $100 back in rewards, $25 per quarter. On paper it sounds like a wash. That's the point. Paid loyalty isn't about margin on the membership fee; it's about locking in purchase frequency. Once someone hands you $99, they're motivated to get their money's worth. Per Retail Dive, the program sits on top of Dick's existing free tier; they're segmenting their best customers without blowing up the base.
Amazon Prime proved the model. Walmart+ proved it again. Now it's reaching specialty retail. If you run a Shopify store with a repeat-purchase product (supplements, apparel, home goods, pet supplies), a paid tier deserves a serious look. The math works when your AOV and purchase frequency make the rewards feel like a win for the customer instead of charity.
Before you build anything: look at your top 10-15% of customers by LTV. What are they already doing? A paid tier should formalize behavior they're already exhibiting, not stretch for new behavior. Early access, free shipping, quarterly credits, members-only products: all levers that cost less than they're perceived to be worth.
Tool SpotlightSearch Console's Generative AI report
Google quietly added a Generative AI section to Search Console. It shows whether your pages appear inside AI Overviews, AI Mode, and AI-powered Discover, the traffic channel that's been eating organic clicks all year, invisibly until now (h/t Practical Ecommerce).
The audit worth doing this week: pull the report, filter for pages with high organic impressions but low AI Overview appearances. Those are your gaps: pages Google's AI is skipping in favor of a competitor's answer. Start with your top-revenue collection pages.
Numbers to KnowBy the numbers
The gas receipt play
Ahead of July 4th, J.C. Penney let customers trade a gas receipt for $10 off in-store. Sounds gimmicky until you see the mechanic: a real-world trigger that converts ambient frustration (pump prices) into a shopping incentive. It meets customers where their pain is.
To adapt it: pick a friction point your customers feel right now (shipping costs, inflation, back-to-school). Gate a discount behind light proof, a receipt upload via Typeform, or even a one-question survey. Then email the hook: "We know summer's expensive. Here's $15 on us." Single-use codes, capped at a redemption ceiling you're comfortable with. You're not running a discount; you're buying goodwill with attribution attached.