Quiet quitting exposes the fragility of customer loyalty

Retail and business buyers are reassessing their relationships with brands and suppliers despite claiming high levels of loyalty, according to new data from SAP Emarsys.

Findings from the company’s Customer Loyalty Index and Buyer Loyalty Index highlight a growing gap between what customers say about loyalty and how they behave. The research suggests that many consumers and business buyers now walk away quickly over price, experience, controversy or sustainability concerns, while others stay only because switching is difficult.

Among consumers, 67% say they “love and trust” a favourite brand. Yet 61% will switch for a better price. Almost half, 48%, will abandon a brand after a poor experience. The data also shows that 27% will leave following a controversy, and another 27% will exit over sustainability concerns.

The patterns are similar in business markets. The Buyer Loyalty Index reports that 69% of B2B buyers claim loyalty to suppliers. Within that group, 72% fall into what SAP Emarsys describes as “Default Loyalty”, where buyers remain because switching is painful rather than because they see strong value in the relationship.

The company states that this form of loyalty quickly breaks down once integration barriers fall or a better commercial or service offer appears. In those conditions, customers become more likely to move to an alternative provider.

SAP Emarsys links the trend with a phenomenon it compares to “quiet quitting” in the workplace. The company argues that some customers appear loyal on the surface but are increasingly detached in practice.

“Quiet quitting has come to retail, and its B2B counterpart is Default Loyalty,” said Sara Richter, CMO, SAP Emarsys. “Both look like loyalty but are fragile. The reason? Internal complexity rather than a lack of intent. Every brand wants to engage better but many are not yet able to do so.”

The research comes as consumer budgets face sustained pressure and expectations for consistent service continue to rise. Journeys across online and physical channels have also become more complex, which places greater demands on brands that want to maintain long-term relationships.

SAP Emarsys says that brands collect large volumes of behavioural and transactional information but often fail to use much of it in a meaningful way. It describes this as “dark data”, which covers signals that sit in disconnected systems across technology, service, marketing and revenue functions.

According to the company, this data is neither lost nor ignored. Instead, many firms lack a mechanism that can bring it together quickly enough for real-time decision-making.

“That’s why AI matters,” Richter added. “AI connects those signals so brands can deliver personalised, connected experiences across every touchpoint, every time.”

The indices suggest a structural problem in how many organisations handle customer information. More than half of brands report that their data is too unstructured for effective use. A similar proportion say they cannot act in real time on the insights they have.

These constraints result in what SAP Emarsys describes as “faith-based loyalty”. Brands assume that customers will stay because of historical relationships or stated preferences. In practice, churn indicators often sit in separate silos across different systems and teams.

Richter said the market is entering what the company calls the “Engagement Era”.

“This is the essence of what has become known as the Engagement Era,” said Richter. “Understanding how customers engage beyond transactions and using one intelligence layer to interpret signals across technology, service, marketing and revenue in real time. Traditional marketing platforms weren’t built for that.”

British fragrance and personal care brand Molton Brown is among the companies that have changed their approach to customer engagement using SAP technology. The business has unified its data environment and moved onto SAP Commerce Cloud and SAP Emarsys.

SAP Emarsys states that Molton Brown now runs more consistent and personalised journeys across channels. The company reports a 20% uplift in repeat purchases and a fivefold increase in revenue from email since the changes. SAP Emarsys also links the engagement strategy to a 30% increase in sales and what it describes as record omnichannel performance for the brand.

The indices underpin a wider debate in retail and B2B markets over how much loyalty programmes, marketing messages and long-term contracts actually secure commitment in an environment of rising choice and price sensitivity. The data suggests that many relationships rest on convenience and inertia rather than attachment.

SAP Emarsys plans to present the research and its “Engagement Era” thesis at the NRF conference, alongside client examples from brands including Molton Brown.