Fuel rewards in South Africa: what the data tells us about a sector that got serious about loyalty
You pull into a petrol station. You haul out your cards. You know there are loyalty programmes attached to your fuel, your bank, maybe your grocery retailer. But which ones work here, in what combination, and are you actually getting the best return? For most South Africans, that question does not have a clear answer.
The question Stephen Grootes put to me on 702’s The Money Show this week was a fair one: are all these fuel loyalty programmes actually helping motorists, or is the value so layered and complex that most people are leaving it on the table?
The short answer: the value is real. But it requires a bit of intention.
Why this conversation is happening now
Fuel prices are going up. That is the blunt reality. And what our 2025/6 Truth and BrandMapp Loyalty Whitepaper shows, based on research across more than 30,000 South Africans, is that consumers are responding to that pressure by leaning harder on loyalty programmes as a practical financial tool.
28% of South Africans say they will use loyalty programmes more specifically to help get through the cost of living crisis. And in the fuel category, that intention is already showing up in behaviour: 45% of South Africans now say the loyalty programme on offer influences which fuel station they choose, making it the second most influential factor after location.
A few years ago, fuel loyalty barely registered as a consumer consideration. Today, if two petrol stations are equidistant from your home or your office, the loyalty programme is very likely the deciding factor.
The base offers, and where the real value sits
At the forecourt level, base fuel rewards across the main programmes range from 15 to 30 cents per litre. That is meaningful on its own, particularly over a year of weekly fill-ups. But it is the partnership layer where the numbers get genuinely interesting.
On The Money Show I described what is sometimes called triple dipping. Fill up at bp, swipe your BP Rewards card, swipe your Pick n Pay Smart Shopper card, and pay with your Nedbank card. Do all three and the combined return can reach 55 cents per litre from a single transaction. No special effort. Just knowing which cards to carry.
Layer in your bank’s programme at the top tier and the returns go higher still. FNB eBucks members at the highest engagement level earn R4 per litre on fuel. Meet the additional behavioural requirements the programme sets and that doubles to R8 per litre. Tactically, eBucks have just announced a further boost taking this to a potential R12 per litre saving until end of June 2026. For a household filling up weekly, that is not a small number over the course of a year.
Absa has also recently moved: their Absa Rewards programme was offering up to 30% cashback on fuel for qualifying customers, and they lifted the monthly spend cap from R3,000 to R5,000, specifically acknowledging that fuel simply costs more now and the old cap was no longer appropriate. That kind of programme evolution in direct response to the economic environment is exactly what loyalty in a cost-of-living crisis should look like.
The broader loyalty picture
Fuel does not sit in isolation. It is part of a loyalty landscape that our whitepaper tracks across retail, financial services, restaurants, travel, telco, and entertainment.
A few numbers worth keeping in mind:
- 85% of economically active South Africans are actively using loyalty programmes, up from 82% in 2024.
- The average South African is actively using 10.4 loyalty programmes.
- Cashback is the number one preferred loyalty benefit across every demographic segment: income, age, and gender.
- Fuel loyalty ranks third in terms of how significantly loyalty programmes influence consumer behaviour overall, behind grocery shopping and banking.
That third-place ranking is significant. Grocery and banking have had years of established, high-frequency loyalty infrastructure. Fuel is moving up fast.
The whitepaper
The data in this piece comes from the 2025/6 Truth and BrandMapp Loyalty Whitepaper, our tenth annual edition, produced in partnership with WhyFive Insights. It covers loyalty programme usage, consumer sentiment, preferred benefits, and programme rankings across every major sector in South Africa.
