How to run one program across several outlets

The study behind How soon should customers earn their first reward? followed a café at an American university. "At the time of data collection, the café had several on-campus locations", and the free coffee came after "ten stamps from any combination of the café locations". Across 949 finished cards and about 10,000 purchases, customers came in faster as the card filled.

So the strongest field evidence on stamp cards was gathered on this arrangement. It did not test it. Nobody in the study held a card for one location only, and every location was on one campus. We found no study that compares a shared card with a card for each outlet.

The usual worry is that members will buy at one outlet and collect the free item at another. The nearest evidence is a 2025 study of one coalition program, which is a program shared by several retailers. Its abstract reports that "point redemptions in other stores of the same chain as the focal store positively affect the focal store's program sales". Put plainly: where members claimed rewards at a sister store, sales to members at the first store tended to rise. The abstract names no country and gives no figures, and a large shared program is not a five-outlet bakery. It is weak support for one thing: letting members claim anywhere.

Where outlets keep separate accounts, or belong to different partners, agree before launch how a free item is charged. native.cards does not settle money between outlets. It does give you the count: in Activity History, filter by Location, set Activity to Reward used, then Export for Excel.

Three sets of published terms, read on 10 October 2026:

The same three exceptions turn up in a business with five outlets. Settle each one before you print "at all our outlets".

An outlet that cannot take the card. The Counter needs a connection and a signed-in member of staff, and a counter inside someone else's shop may have neither. When you create the program, Outlets that take this card lists every active outlet, already ticked, and says: "Staff at these outlets can serve members of this program." Untick the one that cannot. Afterwards the choice sits on the outlet itself, under Which programs it takes, and a change there is reviewed before it applies. The setting says programs because a business can run other kinds beside that one, such as event tickets or staff IDs. Each outlet takes Every program or Only some programs. Put a line on that outlet's counter, and in your Program terms before you submit the program, so that nobody learns it while paying.

A reward one outlet cannot hand over. A reward has no outlet setting. You can write a condition in the reward's Terms, but the Counter does not enforce it: staff at every outlet that takes the card see the reward as ready. Offer only what all of those outlets stock.

A stall or pop-up. Staff can record a purchase only at an outlet, and "native.cards reviews a new or changed outlet before it appears." No screen says how long that takes. Add the stall well ahead, or tell members it does not take the card.

In Team Access, an invitation asks for a work email, a role and an outlet. Staff "Serves customers at one outlet: records purchases and hands over rewards." Location manager "Works the counter at one outlet and supervises its day-to-day redemptions." Under Where they work the form says: "Their scanner and counter work only at this outlet." Owners and admins work at every outlet. In the scanner they pick one from Outlet, which reads "Scans are recorded at this outlet".

A colleague covering a shift elsewhere cannot serve there until an owner or admin changes their Outlet under Manage access. That needs two-step verification, so do it before the shift. Do not make someone an admin to get round it: an admin "Runs the workspace: programs, cards, team and every outlet." How to prepare your staff to run the program covers sign-ins and PINs.

Each person's card on that page shows Works at and Counter, 30 days: "Purchases, rewards and corrections this person recorded in the last 30 days."

Counter, then Locations, has the figures split by outlet. Owners, admins and analysts see them. A location manager can open the page but does not, so share them yourself. Across the top, under "Locations in the last 30 days": Visits recorded, New members, New members who came back and Use more than one outlet. The last is "Members who visited two or more of your locations in the last 90 days". It tells you whether members use the card as a shared one. Each outlet then has its own line: visits, members, new, and the share that came back.

New members who came back is the one to compare. The page defines it: "Of members whose first visit at an outlet was 30 to 180 days ago, the share who visited again within 30 days. Compares how well each outlet turns a first visit into a second". A member counts for the outlet of their first recorded visit. The return visit can be at any outlet, so the figure shows what an outlet starts for the whole business.

An example with made-up numbers. At the neighbourhood shop, 120 members made a first visit 30 to 180 days ago and 58 came back: 48%. At the mall outlet it was 25 of 90: 28%. At the station kiosk it was 8 of 14, and the kiosk shows no share at all, because an outlet needs 20 such first visits before one appears.

Read it with three limits in mind.

Small numbers swing. With 20 first visits, one member is five points. The rough table in How to test whether your program makes a difference puts luck alone at about 14 points between two groups of 100. The 20-point gap above is probably real. A gap of ten could be luck.

It compares places as much as teams. A mall outlet meets people who are passing through. A low share there may be the location and not the manager.

It counts only what staff record. An outlet where the team forgets to ask for the card looks as if its members never return. Check each outlet's visits against the sales its POS shows.

In QR Materials, under Ready-made QR codes, use Your own to add a category for each counter, named for the outlet. Its code "is live at once", and it is counted apart from the others. Campaigns then gives each one a line with Joined and Came back, which there means two or more recorded visits in a member's first 30 days. Which sign, link or post brings you the best members? explains the columns.

An owner or admin adds an outlet with Add location on the Locations page, and it is reviewed before it appears. A new outlet takes Every program unless you choose otherwise. Once it is active, invite its team and make its sign. Then tell members with a notification. The composer's choice News about your business is described as "Opening hours, a closure, a new outlet." No audience is one outlet's members, so send it to Everyone and name the outlet in the headline.

Closing one is Deactivate location or Archive location. Both confirmations say: "Wallet Cards remain valid at your other outlets." Its history stays on record. Move its staff to another outlet, or they have no counter to serve at.

The program form says: "Each card shows up to ten nearby outlets automatically. You can choose them on the Locations page." An outlet needs a map position to be one of them. The page is plain about the rest: "Apple and Google decide when to show a card based on the customer’s device, settings and provider behaviour. Adding a location does not guarantee a notification."