This page groups 12 brand loyalty examples by the mechanism that keeps each brand's customers coming back. Every figure comes from the brand's own filing or website, read on October 1, 2026. Each entry ends with what an enterprise loyalty team can take from it. For the definition of the term, see our guide to brand loyalty. For program models such as points, tiers and paid memberships, see loyalty program examples.
How were these brand loyalty examples chosen?
Each brand had to publish some sign that customers stay. That can be a renewal rate, a churn rate or the share of sales from members. Each brand also had to show one clear mechanism. Brands already profiled in our loyalty program examples guide, such as Starbucks and Marriott, are left out.
| Brand | Mechanism | What the brand discloses | What a loyalty team can take |
|---|---|---|---|
| Costco | Paid membership | 92.2% renewal in the U.S. and Canada | Track renewal by sign-up channel |
| Amazon Prime | Paid membership | $49.6 billion in 2025 subscription sales, Prime fees included | Make leaving as easy as joining |
| Delta Air Lines | Earned status | Earn rates from 5 to 11 miles per dollar by tier | Give lapsed top members a way back |
| Ulta Beauty | Earned status | About 95% of sales from 46 million+ members | Treat the program as the customer file |
| Harley-Davidson | Community | Owners group folded into H-D Membership | Reward use as well as purchase |
| Peloton | Community | 1.7% average monthly churn in fiscal 2026 | Count a pause as churn |
| Apple | Product ecosystem | More than 2.5 billion active devices | Count active relationships |
| Sonos | Product ecosystem | About 45% of new registrations from existing customers | Test shared software with a small group first |
| Chewy | Service | 84.6% of net sales from Autoship customers | Pair warm service with a habit |
| Zappos | Service | Free shipping and returns, with service open 24/7 | State the promise and its limits together |
| Patagonia | Values | Ironclad Guarantee, and 98% owned by an environmental nonprofit | Turn values into a service people use |
| Warby Parker | Values | More than 20 million pairs given through Buy a Pair, Give a Pair | Tie the cause to each sale |
Which brands keep customers through paid membership?
Costco
Costco sells access. A Gold Star membership costs $65 a year. Executive costs $130 and pays a 2% annual reward of up to $1,250 (Costco). At the end of its third quarter of fiscal 2026, Costco had 82.9 million paid members. Renewal rates were 92.2% in the U.S. and Canada and 89.7% worldwide (Costco 10-Q).
Costco also reports where renewals are weaker. Memberships sold online, some through digital deals, renew at a slightly lower rate on average. Take: judge each sign-up channel by the renewal rate it brings in.
Amazon Prime
Amazon says Prime gives members a set of benefits that keeps changing, all for one fee. Its subscription sales, which include Prime fees, reached $49.6 billion in 2025 (Amazon 10-K). Amazon says it sees Prime benefits and shipping deals as good marketing, and it plans to keep them going with no end date.
Paid membership has a legal edge too. In September 2025, Amazon settled FTC claims for $2.5 billion. The FTC alleged that Amazon enrolled consumers in Prime without consent and made it hard to cancel (FTC). Take: make leaving as easy as joining. Renewals kept by friction are a liability.
How does earned status keep customers?
Delta Air Lines
Delta's Medallion tiers raise the earn rate at each level. A SkyMiles member with no status earns 5 miles per dollar, and a Diamond Medallion member earns 11 (Delta). Medallion members are eligible for free upgrades with no cap. Delta also runs Reclaim My Status. It gives current and former Medallion members three months of status to earn their tier back.
SkyMiles also has a large partner business behind it. In 2025, American Express paid Delta $8.2 billion tied to SkyMiles. Members redeemed miles for about 35 million award tickets (Delta 10-K). Take: build a road back for members who lose status, since they already know what the tier is worth.
Ulta Beauty
Ulta Beauty Rewards had more than 46 million members at the end of fiscal 2025, and members drove about 95% of total sales (Ulta Beauty 10-K). Members earn points on products and beauty services. Ulta says the perks grow at every member level (Ulta Beauty). Its filing says members spend more per visit than non-members. Guests who shop both in stores and online have spent over three times as much as store-only guests.
Take: when members are nearly all of sales, the program is the customer file. Ulta uses member insight to pick store sites, and it sells media to brand partners through UB Media.
How do brands build loyalty through community?
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson puts community at the center of its marketing. Its annual report says it backs the Harley Owners Group, H-D Membership and its Riding Academy. Their job is to connect riders and build a community of fans (Harley-Davidson 10-K). H.O.G. is now part of H-D Membership. Members get unlimited roadside help for two VINs in the U.S. and Canada, and free entry to the Harley-Davidson Museum (Harley-Davidson). The program also tracks lifetime miles.
Take: reward use as well as purchase. Lifetime miles turn every ride into progress, and events give owners a reason to meet.
Peloton
Peloton combines hardware, classes and a community of about 5.5 million members (Peloton 10-K). Its churn rule is strict. A paused subscription counts as a churn event when the pause starts. Average net monthly churn for connected fitness subscriptions was 1.7% in fiscal 2026, up from 1.4% two years earlier. Paid connected fitness subscriptions fell from 2.976 million to 2.553 million over the same span.
Take: define churn strictly. Counting a pause as churn shows the risk before the customer cancels.
How does a product ecosystem create loyalty?
Apple
Apple's loyalty shows up in its installed base of devices and the services that run on them. In January 2026, Apple said its installed base had passed 2.5 billion active devices. Services set an all-time revenue record that quarter, up 14% (Apple). In July 2026, Apple said the installed base hit a new all-time high in every major product category and region (Apple).
Take: count active relationships rather than one-time sales. Apple's headline loyalty number is the count of devices in use.
Sonos
Sonos says each room and device a customer adds makes the system worth more. In fiscal 2025, about 45% of new product registrations came from people who already owned Sonos. It counted 53.4 million registered products in about 17.1 million homes. That is 3.13 per home (Sonos 10-K).
Sonos also shows what happens when the shared software fails. After a May 2024 app redesign, some customers ran into missing features and poor performance. Sonos believes the rollout cut sales of existing products and hurt its reputation. It tied a $74.8 million revenue drop in fiscal 2025 to the app problems and softer demand. Take: in an ecosystem, the app is the relationship. Test changes with a small group first.
How does service build brand loyalty?
Chewy
Chewy calls customer service the core of its brand. It runs service centers 24/7 and says virtually all calls are answered in under ten seconds. Agents have sent hand-painted pet portraits and notes of sympathy when a pet dies (Chewy 10-K). Customers who use Autoship, its repeat delivery program, accounted for 84.6% of net sales in the quarter ended August 2, 2026. Chewy had 21.7 million active customers (Chewy 10-Q).
Take: pair warm service with a habit. Chewy names both its service and Autoship as drivers of customer retention.
Zappos
Zappos customers get free shipping and free returns, with customer service open 24/7 (Zappos). Returns are free anywhere in the U.S. within 60 days, for items in new condition. VIP members get free expedited shipping. The rules are firm. A return that breaks them can carry a restocking fee of up to 50%.
Take: state the promise and its limits together. Zappos puts both on one page.
Do values keep customers loyal?
Patagonia
Patagonia guarantees everything it makes (Patagonia). A product that does not perform can come back for repair. Customers can also choose a new one or a refund. Its Worn Wear program buys back used Patagonia gear and sells it again (Worn Wear).
The values reach the ownership. The Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit set up to fight the environmental crisis, owns 98% of the company. Patagonia still gives 1% of sales each year to grassroots environmental groups (Patagonia). Take: values build loyalty when they show up as a service. A repair and a buyback are values a customer can use.
Warby Parker
Warby Parker gives a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair it sells. More than 20 million pairs have gone out across the U.S. and over 80 countries. The company says this mission drives engagement and retention. Active customers grew 7.0% to 2.69 million in 2025, and average revenue per customer rose to $324 (Warby Parker 10-K).
Take: tie the cause to the sale. The give happens on every purchase, so the cause grows with the business.
What do these brand loyalty examples have in common?
Each brand names a staying metric and reports it. Costco reports renewal. Ulta reports the member share of sales. Peloton reports monthly churn, and Chewy reports the share of sales from Autoship customers. Sonos reports how many new registrations come from existing customers. A loyalty team that picks one such number and reports it every quarter runs its program the same way.
The mechanism also shapes the risk. Paid membership carries legal risk at cancellation, as the Amazon settlement shows. A product ecosystem carries software risk, as Sonos found. Status carries the risk of members who lapse. Delta built Reclaim My Status for members whose travel slows down.
How do these brands define their loyalty metrics?
How a metric is defined decides the number. Copy the rule before you copy a target. Each filing spells out what its metric counts.
| Brand | Metric | How the brand defines it |
|---|---|---|
| Costco | Renewal rate | A trailing measure of renewals 7 to 18 months before the reporting date, excluding affiliates of Business members |
| Peloton | Average net monthly churn | Churn events, net of unpauses and reactivations, divided by average subscribers per month; a pause counts as churn |
| Chewy | Active customers | Customers with at least one order shipped or service provided in the prior 364 days |
| Chewy | Autoship customer sales | All sales to Autoship customers in the quarter, including orders placed outside Autoship |
| Warby Parker | Active Customers | Accounts with at least one purchase in the trailing 12 months |
| Sonos | Households and registrations | Internal data that Sonos says has not been independently verified |
Two details matter for an operator. Chewy's Autoship figure counts everything those customers buy, which is a wider number than Autoship orders alone. Costco's renewal rate looks back up to 18 months, so a change in sign-up quality shows up late.
What is two points of renewal worth?
For illustration, take a paid program with 1 million members and a $65 fee. At a 90% renewal rate, it has to replace 100,000 members a year to stand still. At 92%, it replaces 80,000. If each new member costs $40 to acquire, the two points save $800,000 a year in acquisition cost. The figures are assumptions. The lesson is that renewal drives the cost of keeping a membership base level. The customer lifetime value guide shows how to value the members who stay.
Which mechanism fits which business?
Each brand above leans on one mechanism and uses others in support. The business model points to the right lead.
- Frequent, routine purchases. Service plus a habit fits, as at Chewy. A standing order turns a routine need into a default.
- High prices and rare purchases. Community and a product ecosystem fit, as at Harley-Davidson and Sonos. Both keep owners close between big buys.
- Frequent use with clear value tiers. Earned status fits, as at Delta and Ulta Beauty.
- A broad basket bought often. Paid membership fits, as at Costco and Amazon. The fee gives members a reason to bring more of the basket.
- A stance customers share. Values fit, as at Patagonia and Warby Parker, when the values turn into something customers can use.
How GRAVTY supports these mechanisms
GRAVTY runs tiers, paid memberships, challenges and partner networks. The airline solutions page lists them in full. Member 360 keeps one view of each customer and their household. Agentic AI Compass tests offers and flags odd patterns. It also models the result before a change goes live. GRAVTY runs more than 500 million members in production.
Frequently asked questions
What is an example of brand loyalty?
Costco is a clear example of brand loyalty: its members renewed at 92.2% in the U.S. and Canada as of its third quarter of fiscal 2026. Members pay a yearly fee before they buy anything, and most come back the next year.
Which company has the most loyal customers?
No neutral ranking settles it, because each brand measures loyalty with its own metric. The filings point to a few strong cases. Members drive about 95% of Ulta Beauty sales, and Autoship customers drive 84.6% of Chewy sales. Apple counts more than 2.5 billion active devices.
What is the difference between brand loyalty and customer loyalty?
Brand loyalty is a preference for the brand itself, while customer loyalty is the repeat buying you can count. The two usually travel together. This page uses behavior as the evidence, since it is what brands disclose. Our brand loyalty guide covers the attitude side.
Do you need a loyalty program to build brand loyalty?
No. Several brands on this list keep customers mainly through the product, the service or the values, such as Apple, Chewy and Patagonia. A program adds the most when it rewards a mechanism the brand already has, such as status at Delta or membership at Costco.
How do you measure brand loyalty from public data?
Use the staying metric each company reports in its filings. Costco reports renewal rates, Peloton reports monthly churn and Ulta reports the member share of sales. Compare each company with itself over time, since each one defines its metric its own way.
Can loyalty built on friction last?
Rarely, because loyalty built on friction is a legal risk as well as a brand risk. In September 2025, Amazon settled FTC claims for $2.5 billion over Prime sign-ups and cancellations. Keeping customers by making it hard to leave invites the same scrutiny.