Notes for owners · Channel and customer growth
A loyalty scheme a single-store owner can run on a notebook or a sheet
A stamp card or points sheet a one-shop owner can run without software: how to set the rule, work out what it costs the shop, and the signs that it is time to move to software.
The GullySales team · Updated 17 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Rules for this trade differ by state and professional body, and they change. Check the current position with your own council or adviser before you act on anything here.
On this page
It is easy to print the cards first and do the sum later. That is backwards. A loyalty scheme for one shop is a rule, a priced reward and a notebook, in that order. Work out what the reward costs against a typical bill. Write a rule a customer can repeat in one breath. Keep the record in a book your counter staff can fill on the busiest evening of Diwali week.
Do the sum before you print anything
Take a stationery shop whose average bill is ₹300. It offers a free item worth ₹60 on the shelf after six stamped bills. Every figure in this post is illustrative, so replace them with your own.
| Line | Figure |
|---|---|
| Sales from six bills | ₹1,800 |
| Shelf price of the free item | ₹60 |
| What that item cost the shop | ₹40 |
| Reward as a share of the six bills | about 2 per cent |
Compare your margin with the ₹40 purchase cost, not the ₹60 shelf price. If your margin on those bills is thin, shrink the reward or lengthen the card. Then the blunt test: after the reward, is the card-holder's sixth bill still worth having? If the answer is no, change the rule before launch.
One rule, said in a breath
A customer is likelier to repeat a scheme to a friend if it fits in a sentence. "Buy five, the sixth is free" works. "One point per hundred rupees, redeemable after five hundred points on selected items" does not.
Two shapes are worth choosing between:
- Stamps for visits. One stamp per bill above a minimum. Suits small, frequent purchases: stationery, snacks, alterations.
- Points for spend. Points in proportion to the bill. Suits shops where baskets vary, such as gifts or clothing.
If most of your bills sit in a narrow band, use stamps. If they range from ₹150 to ₹8,000, use points, or a stamp card only for bills above a floor.
The card, or the sheet
The card is a visiting-card sized slip with the shop's name, the rule printed on top and boxes to stamp. Stamp only against a bill, and write the bill number faintly on the back. A rubber stamp costs little, and customers like the ritual.
The sheet suits points. One ruled page, one row per customer, with the columns below.
| Name | Mobile | Joined | Bill no. and date | Points added | Points used | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rahul Menon | as given | a date | 4127, a date | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Initial every entry. The bill number and balance columns protect you from honest mistakes and the odd cheat. A third check is more than a one-shop scheme needs.
Limits to print on the card
Write them in plain words and keep them few.
- Expiry: a fixed period from the first stamp, so you are not carrying a promise forever.
- One reward per card.
- No stacking on a festival sale, unless the card says so.
- Rewards come from a short list that you control, never the whole shop.
- A lost card gets replaced only if the name is in your book.
Decide who may stamp. If every helper can, cards fill by friendship. Let only the person at the till do it, and lock the rubber stamp in the drawer overnight.
Do not promise cash value on points. Offer an item or a service, so the reward stays in your hands.
A Thrissur bookshop that rewrote its rule
This is an invented case. A small bookshop in Thrissur launches a card: ten stamps on bills above ₹200, and the tenth bill gets a free notebook. In the first fortnight most parents at the counter take one. Two months later the owner opens the book and finds most cards stuck at three stamps. Students came in only in exam weeks, and the ₹200 floor shut out the pen-and-refill purchases that fill a student's year.
The owner rewrites the rule rather than abandoning it. Stamps now come on any bill above ₹100, school-term purchases count double, and a card runs for the whole academic year. The change matches the rule to when the buyers really shop, not to when the owner wished they did. A month on, some stuck cards begin to move, though the free notebook now goes out more often and the owner has to cost it again.
Signs it is time for software
Not before these show up:
- You cannot find a customer's balance in under a minute.
- A second counter or branch needs the same list.
- Staff disagree about who is owed what.
- You want to message members, and the numbers sit across three books.
Until then a notebook is cheaper and clearer. When you do move, carry the register with you.
Who should skip it
If your buyers purchase once in years, such as furniture or a refrigerator, a stamp card will go unused. A referral request after the sale will do more. A scheme also fails where the problem is the shop itself: if customers leave because the item is out of stock, no card brings them back. Other kinds of shop are under retail and shops.
Test the rule on five regulars
Write the rule on a slip, cost the reward against one typical bill, and show it to your five best customers before printing a single card. Ask which part they would not understand. If you later want the scheme to run beyond a notebook, customer loyalty programmes is the service, and tell us what you need is where we start.
