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CUSTOMER LOYALTY
FNB bank’s eBucks programme dominates the 2026 SA loyalty awards
By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2026
South African brands are increasingly setting the global benchmark for customer loyalty strategies, organisers say.
Pieter Woodhatch of FNB eBucks (centre), with Judging Chair Amanda Cromhout (left) and Vice-Chair, Nicholas Bednall
The South African Loyalty Awards 2026 recently named this year’s winners, showcasing industry talent and benchmarking performance against international standards in CRM, consumer behavioural change, data insights and loyalty strategy.
This year’s competition spanned 24 categories, with entries assessed by a panel of 19 loyalty and CRM experts. An independent advisory board of six professionals supported the process by helping to keep judging robust and transparent.
As in previous years, the eBucks loyalty programme of First National Bank (FNB) dominated the awards by winning seven categories in total.
Pieter Woodhatch, CEO of eBucks Rewards, was named Loyalty Personality of the Year for his leadership of one of South Africa’s most established rewards programmes.
“Under his leadership, eBucks has continued to evolve, sharpening its focus on value, simplifying the customer experience and adapting to changing customer needs,” the judges commented.
The Shoprite retail group’s Xtra Savings team was awarded Best Loyalty Team of the Year, with the judges saying the award recognised their ability “to deliver exceptional results year after year”.
Xtra Savings was also named Best Retail Programme and Best Programme Subscription.
Among the other category winners were Sasol Rewards for Best Fuel Programme, Vodacom Vodabucks for Best Telco Programme and Spur Corporation for Best Restaurant/QSR Programme.
Dis-Chem Better Rewards was named Best Re-launched Programme, recognising the evolution of the retail pharmacy chain’s customer rewards offering.
Setting benchmarks for the world
The annual awards are organised by Truth, a loyalty and CRM consultancy based in South Africa.
Says Amanda Cromhout, Judging Chair and CEO/Founder of Truth: “South African brands are not simply keeping pace with global best practice – they are increasingly setting the benchmark for the rest of the world to follow.
“The innovation, strategic thinking and customer-centricity initiatives we have seen this year are truly world class, delivering measurable commercial impact while creating meaningful value for customers.”
You can find a full list of winners here.
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