Saudi Arabia's smartphone penetration exceeds 98%. Every customer who walks into your cafe or salon already has Apple Wallet on their phone.
For independent businesses in Saudi Arabia, LoyaltyPass at $99/month (approximately SAR 109) is the clearest answer to the loyalty program question in 2026. It issues digital loyalty cards to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, works alongside Foodics without integration, supports bilingual Arabic/English push notifications, and requires no app download from customers. The KSA market is loyalty-literate: Jarir Rewards, Almaza, Qitaf, and the growing SHARE (Ala Kaifak) coalition have trained Saudi consumers to expect rewards programs. Independent cafes, salons, and specialty retailers can now offer the same experience without joining a coalition.
This guide compares five platforms available to Saudi businesses and explains what matters in the local context: Foodics compatibility, Ramadan campaign capability, PDPL data privacy compliance, and bilingual pass support.
Platform comparison: loyalty program software for Saudi businesses
| Platform | Monthly price | Apple/Google Wallet | Foodics compatible | Arabic push notifications | PDPL-friendly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LoyaltyPass | $99 (SAR 109) | Yes, both | Yes, side-by-side | Yes, bilingual | Yes, minimal data |
| Loopy Loyalty | ~$49 | Yes, both | Yes, side-by-side | Basic only | Yes |
| Stamp Me | ~$30 | No (app required) | No | No | App data collected |
| Square Loyalty | $45 add-on | No | No (Square POS only) | No | Phone number only |
| Foodics Loyalty | Bundled with Foodics | No | Native | No | Foodics data model |
The Saudi loyalty landscape for independent businesses
Saudi Arabia's retail and F&B sector is in the middle of a Vision 2030-driven expansion. Riyadh's King Abdullah Financial District and the Olaya strip, Jeddah's Al-Balad and the Corniche, Khobar's commercial corridors: all are adding independent cafes, restaurants, and specialty retailers at pace. The number of licensed F&B outlets in Riyadh alone grew by double digits annually between 2021 and 2025.
The large players already have loyalty programs. Jarir Bookstore runs Jarir Rewards, the most recognised retail loyalty card in the Kingdom. Tamimi Markets operates the Almaza program. Abdullah Al-Othaim Markets has Othaim Rewards. STC Pay's Qitaf has enrolled millions of Saudi consumers in points-based loyalty mechanics. The SHARE program (also marketed as Ala Kaifak) is expanding as a coalition platform across F&B and retail brands.
None of these programs are accessible to an independent cafe in Riyadh or a boutique salon in Jeddah. You cannot join Jarir Rewards. You cannot enrol in Qitaf as an independent merchant. That is precisely the gap that a platform like LoyaltyPass fills: a برنامج الولاء (loyalty program) that belongs entirely to your business, as digital and polished as the big programs, but built around your brand and your regulars.
Saudi consumers are not loyalty novices. When they see a QR code on your counter and the offer "buy 9 coffees, get your 10th free," they understand the mechanic instantly. Jarir, Qitaf, and Starbucks Rewards have already done the education. Your job is simply to be the business that has a program.
LoyaltyPass in the Saudi context
Foodics compatibility
Foodics is the market-leading restaurant and cafe POS in Saudi Arabia, founded in Riyadh and used by tens of thousands of KSA F&B businesses. LoyaltyPass works alongside Foodics without any integration or configuration. The customer pays through Foodics as normal. Your staff then open the free LoyaltyPass merchant app on any smartphone and scan the customer's loyalty card QR code separately. Two five-second steps. No API keys, no Foodics settings to touch, no developer.
Marn, the Saudi-built POS popular with independent operators, works the same way. So does Square, Lightspeed, or any other terminal in the market. See the full breakdown of how this works across POS systems: loyalty program that works with any POS.
Bilingual Arabic/English passes
Saudi storefronts are genuinely bilingual. Saudi national customers, Arabic-speaking expats from Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, and the large South Asian and Southeast Asian expat communities all interact with your business in different languages. LoyaltyPass pass text fields can be configured in Arabic, and push notifications can be sent in Arabic alongside English. A Ramadan Iftar reminder in Arabic to your Saudi national customers and an English-language version to your expat cardholders can be sent from the same dashboard.
Ramadan and high-season push campaigns
Ramadan is the single highest-opportunity trading period for Saudi cafes and restaurants. Daytime foot traffic drops, but Iftar windows and late-night Suhoor periods generate some of the highest per-hour revenue a business sees all year. Push notifications sent to loyalty cardholders 20-30 minutes before Iftar consistently outperform any other promotional timing. The notification lands on the lock screen at exactly the moment your customer is deciding where to break their fast.
The open rate advantage of wallet pass push notifications is significant. See the full data: wallet pass push notification open rates.
PDPL: Saudi data privacy and loyalty programs
The Saudi Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), enforced by the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) since September 2023, applies to any business collecting personal data about Saudi residents. The core obligations are: obtain explicit consent before collection, use data only for the stated purpose, and do not retain data longer than necessary.
Wallet-pass loyalty programs are well-positioned for PDPL compliance because of how little data they collect. When a customer scans your loyalty card QR code, they provide only what is needed: typically a name and a phone number or email address. There is no device fingerprinting, no location history stored by the platform, no behavioural profiling. The consent moment is the QR scan itself: the customer actively chooses to add the card and sees clearly what they are signing up for.
Compare this to app-based loyalty platforms. A branded loyalty app typically requests access to location services, notification permissions, device identifiers, and usage analytics on install. Each of these requires a separate PDPL justification. A wallet-pass program avoids the question entirely by not collecting data it does not need.
For independent businesses in KSA that lack a dedicated legal or compliance team, the minimal data footprint of wallet-pass loyalty is a practical advantage: fewer data types collected means fewer compliance obligations to manage.
Setting up during Ramadan and high season
Push notification timing in KSA
The Saudi weekend is Friday and Saturday. Your highest-value push notification windows during the week are Sunday through Thursday evenings, when working professionals are most likely to visit after work. During Ramadan, the timing shifts: Iftar notifications (sent 20-30 minutes before sunset) and late-night Suhoor campaigns (sent after 10pm) are the primary windows.
A practical Ramadan campaign schedule built inside LoyaltyPass:
Week before Ramadan: Send a welcome notification announcing your Ramadan hours and a first-week bonus for loyalty card holders. "Ramadan Kareem from [your business name]. Double stamps on all Iftar orders in the first week."
First Friday of Ramadan: Fridays are the busiest Iftar nights of the week. A double-stamp or special offer on Jumuah Iftar drives visits at peak demand.
Mid-Ramadan win-back: A notification for cardholders who have not visited in 10 or more days. "We miss you this Ramadan. Your next stamp is on us."
Last ten nights: The final 10 days of Ramadan carry particular significance for many Saudi customers. A quiet, respectful offer tied to this period is well-received.
Eid Al-Fitr morning: An Eid Mubarak notification sent on Eid morning lands in a celebratory context. Response rates at Eid are consistently strong.
Hajj and Umrah corridor note
Businesses located near the Makkah and Madinah corridors, including those in Jeddah serving pilgrims in transit, benefit from a different dynamic during Hajj season. Pilgrim traffic is high, but this is not a regular-repeat-customer base. For Makkah and Madinah corridor businesses, the loyalty program is most valuable for local regulars and returning pilgrims who visit multiple times across Umrah trips, rather than one-time Hajj pilgrims. Push notifications to existing cardholders during Hajj season should focus on your local base, not the pilgrim traffic.
Pricing
LoyaltyPass has one plan relevant to Saudi businesses:
Pro: $99/month (approximately SAR 363). Covers unlimited active loyalty card members, 20 partner locations included (additional locations at $19/month each), Apple Wallet and Google Wallet pass delivery, push notifications, stamp cards and points programs, advanced campaign scheduling, segmented push notification audiences, and the free merchant scanning app. No setup fee, no hardware, no POS integration required. Suitable for any business in Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar, or anywhere in the Kingdom.
For a full comparison of loyalty platform pricing across ten tools, including all hidden costs, see loyalty program pricing comparison.
Start your Saudi loyalty program
Saudi businesses are on the waitlist for LoyaltyPass. Bilingual Arabic/English push notifications, Foodics-compatible side-by-side scanning, Apple Wallet and Google Wallet delivery, and Ramadan campaign scheduling are all included from $99/month.
Related reading
- Loyalty program without an app: how wallet passes work
- Loyalty program pricing comparison: 10 platforms in 2026
- Loyalty program with any POS: how side-by-side scanning works
- Wallet pass push notification open rates: what to expect
About the author
Priya Shah covers loyalty programs, digital payments, and consumer behaviour across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the wider Middle East. She writes for LoyaltyPass on the business case for digital loyalty in Gulf markets.
