Every digital loyalty platform on the market falls into one of two categories. App-based platforms need the customer to download a dedicated app before they can collect a single stamp. Wallet-based platforms work through Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, apps already sitting on every smartphone in the UK, with nothing extra to install.
That one decision matters more than any feature list. Here's why, and how the main app-based options, Stamp Me, Squid and Remy, actually compare.
Why the App Download Is the Real Cost
Ask someone to scan a QR code and add a card to a wallet they already use daily, and most say yes on the spot. Ask the same person to download an entirely new app, create an account, and remember it exists, and a large share drop off before they finish. That drop-off happens before you've even started competing on rewards or branding, it happens at the very first step.
There's a second cost too, one that's easy to miss. Squid and Remy both include a discovery feature, a directory inside their app that shows customers other participating businesses nearby. That sounds like a benefit, and for some businesses it can be. But it also means your customer, mid-app, sees a list that may well include your direct competitors sitting right next to you. A wallet-based card has no such directory. Once it's in a customer's wallet, it's just yours.
Stamp Me
Stamp Me is a well-established app-based platform used across cafés, salons and retail. Customers download the Stamp Me app, then add each business's card inside it, one more download and one more account before a single stamp gets collected.
Stamp Me's entry-level plan is a basic stamp card with no access to customer data at all. Full customer insight, names, numbers, visit history, sits behind a higher, pricier tier. PerQ includes that from the very first sign-up, on a flat £12 a month.
Where Stamp Me does more than PerQ: gamified achievement badges, and a broader multi-language interface, genuinely useful if your customer base is international or if game mechanics fit your brand.
Squid
Squid uses an NFC tag at the till. Customers tap their phone against it using the Squid app to collect a stamp, a slick physical motion that still requires the download step first.
Squid's Discover feature surfaces participating local businesses to Squid users browsing nearby, including, potentially, whoever's two doors down doing the same trade as you. That's a real trade-off worth weighing against the small chance of a stranger finding you through the app.
Remy
Remy leans hardest into gamification, with 15 achievement badges and a discovery map to help customers stumble across new local businesses, again, alongside whoever else is listed nearby. Remy's entry Starter plan is priced similarly to PerQ, £12 a month when billed annually, though Remy's price applies per location rather than as a single flat rate.
The same trade-off runs through Remy as the other two: none of its badges or discovery map work until the customer has downloaded the app.
What About Other Wallet-Based Providers?
PerQ isn't the only wallet-based option out there, and it wouldn't be honest to pretend otherwise. Several providers now offer Apple and Google Wallet cards with no app required, the same core pitch as PerQ. Pricing structures between them vary quite a bit, some lead with a free tier that caps stamps or notifications per month, others price per location rather than as one flat rate. Worth actually reading the small print on stamp limits and per-location costs before assuming the cheapest headline number stays the cheapest once your customer list grows.
PerQ's own position is simple: one flat £12 a month, no stamp caps, no notification caps, no per-location pricing creep, and full customer data from day one rather than an upsell.
So Which Category Should You Actually Use?
If your customers already use a discovery-style app for something else, or gamified badges genuinely fit your brand, Squid or Remy are worth a proper look. If your business depends on someone deciding in the moment, a busy counter, a quick stop, a five-minute wash, the extra step of "download this first" is exactly where you lose people before they've joined at all.
For the fuller picture of how PerQ itself works, see our complete guide to digital loyalty cards in the UK.
