The right loyalty program for a cinema

In 2017 The Edge reported the chief executive of Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) as saying that admissions per head in Malaysia "were only at 2.5, compared with four to five seen in matured markets". That is an average over everybody, including people who never go, and it is nine years old. The newest count from FINAS, the national film body, as The Star reported it, is 7.55 million admissions to Malaysian films and 6.94 million to Hollywood films from January to July 2026. It gives no figure per head.

So a cinema's customers are occasional by nature. The best field evidence on reward cards comes from a café whose regulars came every three days: see How soon should customers earn their first reward? We found no study of a loyalty card at a cinema. What follows is arithmetic, and what one large chain publishes.

The Edge, reporting a briefing by GSC's chief executive in March 2025, after its 2024 financial year, gave it 3.7 million members and 51% of the Malaysian market. Its GSC Rewards pages, read on 10 October 2026, say this:

By our arithmetic, 800 GSCoins is RM160 of spending, and RM5 off is 3.1% of that.

Two things are worth copying: one rule for tickets and food alike, and a small first reward paid in food. Leave the rest. native.cards has no levels, and nothing in it acts on a birthday. Its Points do not expire, which suits someone who comes for one film in March and the next in December. Under a 180-day rule that customer returns to an empty account. And there is no app: the card sits in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.

The Edge's report on GSC's 2024 financial year put its revenue at 50% tickets, 30% food and beverages and 20% other. That is 60 sen of food for every RM1 of tickets (our division). In 2017 its chief executive told The Edge: "We actually make very small margins from cinema tickets because we are very highly taxed." That is one chain, speaking under the taxes of 2017. Your split is in your own accounts.

The reasoning holds wherever food earns more than seats:

• A free popcorn costs you the corn, the oil and the box.
• A free seat may cost more than it looks. Read what your agreement with the film's distributor says about tickets you give away before you offer one.
• A reward collected at the counter puts the member in front of your menu.

How to choose rewards customers want and you can afford has the general case.

Count Points, not Stamps. A stamp is given for each purchase, so a family of five would earn what one person earns. Keep Points per unit of spend at 1, because "Part points are rounded down", and set how generous you are through each reward's price under It costs.

An example with made-up prices. A ticket is RM20 and a member spends RM15 at the snack bar: RM35 a visit alone, RM70 when one card pays for two. A regular popcorn sells for RM9.

For a member who comes alone three times a year, the second row is two years away. The first row looks dear at 9%, but that is the menu price. What you give is the cost of the popcorn. Put your own prices in the table, then your own cost.

Switch on Can be earned more than once, which starts off, or each member can claim the popcorn once and never again. Because each reward has its own cost, you can add a second one further off for your regulars, a pair of seats for instance.

native.cards is not a ticketing system. Points are added when staff record a purchase: they scan the member's Wallet Card, type the Purchase amount, enter their own Staff PIN and press Record purchase. Connections exist for the Loyverse POS and for Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix shops, where that connection is switched on for your business. None of them is a ticketing system. Anything sold another way earns Points only when staff record it.

At the box office and the snack bar that is simple. A ticket sold through a booking site of your own is not seen at all. GSC can credit one because the member is signed in to GSC's own app or website. You have two honest choices:

• Points at your counters only. One sentence on the sign, and nothing to argue about.
• Points for online tickets on showing the booking. Staff add the amount to the bill they type. It is typed by hand, and nothing checks it against your ticketing system.

Choose before you launch and print the rule. Then think about the ten minutes before a show. Recording adds a scan, a typed amount and a PIN to each sale, so put up a notice: "Members: have your card open". The Counter needs a connection.

A notification about a new film is an invitation to buy, so send it as An offer or promotion, which "Only reaches members who agreed to offers". News about your business is for "Opening hours, a closure, a new outlet."

That makes one tick box matter more to a cinema than to most businesses. When someone joins, "Send me offers and news in Wallet." is optional and starts unticked. Give people a reason to tick it on your join sign: hear about new films first. Home shows how many members an offer can reach, under Can get offers.

Three things fit a release:

• A new notification waits In review while "native.cards checks new wording". Submit it days ahead, not on opening night.
• At a set time sends it when you choose, the evening before the first shows, say.
• Keep it on the card for offers 7 days, a film's first week. "After that it clears from their Wallet Card by itself."

The headline takes 80 characters and the message 500, with no web addresses, so name the day and say in words where to book. Zero notification fees. That is no reason to send often, and one film a week is plenty: see How often should you send notifications?

A Reward reminder works differently. It goes to Members with a reward waiting, whether or not they agreed to offers, and a member holding a free popcorn has a reason to choose your cinema for a film they meant to see anyway. A member counts only once the reward is claimed. So when a purchase is recorded and the screen shows Enough for the popcorn, staff should press Claim for later.

For a preview night, add an item under Rewards And Benefits and choose Event: "Something members are invited to." Give a place a small cost in Points, so that only members who mean to come take one. Set How many can be given in total to the seats in the hall. The rule is strict: "Every one given counts, even if it is later cancelled, used or expired." Set Claim and use by to the night. At the hall door, staff find each member and press Use reward.

That gives a guest list, not a ticket. Tickets that start working when doors open and are scanned at a Door belong to a different kind of card program, Event admission, set up apart from your rewards program: see Event tickets on a phone: how they work. native.cards does not sell tickets or take payment, a ticket cannot be passed to someone else, and nothing is tapped on a reader. Your ticketing system stays.