Quiet quitting might have been reaping havoc in the workplace since the phrase was first coined over 15 years ago but now it seems the concept is creeping into retail lexicon, with a new analysis exposing a widening difference between stated loyalty and actual behaviour.
That is according to a study based on both the SAP Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index (CLI) and the Buyer Loyalty Index (BLI), two-thirds (67%) of consumers claim brand love yet 61% switch for a better price; 48% leave after a poor experience; 27% walk following a controversy; and 27% exit over sustainability concerns.
Meanwhile, in B2B, 69% of buyers claim loyalty, yet 72% of that is so-called “default loyalty”; staying because switching is painful, not because the value is strong. When integration barriers fall or a superior offer appears, that customer is motivated to move on.
One of the key issues to emerge is that the signals which predict churn sit in silos, trapped in disconnected systems across technology, service, marketing and revenue. It is not lost or ignored, it is unusable in real-time without an intelligence layer.
The study maintains that budgets are tight, expectations are higher, and journeys are fragmented. Despite oceans of data, over half of brands say their data is too unstructured to use, and a similar amount cannot act in real time. Customers rarely complain, instead quietly disengaging – opening fewer messages, purchasing less often, before eventually switching.
SAP Emarsys chief marketing officer Sara Richter said: “Quiet quitting has come to retail, and its B2B counterpart is default loyalty. 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.
“That’s why AI matters; it connects those signals so brands can deliver personalised, connected experiences across every touchpoint, every time.”
SAP Emarsys cites British luxury fragrance and body care brand Molton Brown which is already putting connected engagement into practice. By unifying data and upgrading to SAP Commerce Cloud and SAP Emarsys, it is claimed the brand now delivers seamless, personalised journeys across channels – helping drive a 20% uplift in repeat purchases, 5 times more revenue from email, and contributing to a 30% increase in sales with record omnichannel performance.
The report goes on to highlight four key steps for the year ahead:
– Activate ‘dark data’: Unify signals across technology, service, marketing and revenue to spot early disengagement (price sensitivity, friction, values clashes) before it becomes churn.
– Convert default to strategic loyalty: Use predictive analytics and AI‑driven personalisation to anticipate needs, scale relevance and turn inertia into intentional commitment.
– Deliver connected experiences: Eliminate fragmented touchpoints: one customer, one journey, one view.
– Build values‑based engagement: Treat ESG and sustainability as procurement criteria; align proof points to the segments that care most.
Richter concluded: “This is the essence of what has become known as the engagement era. 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.”
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