Reloadly examines gift card APIs and mobile rewards in its 2026 loyalty guide

Reloadly ’s January 19 loyalty commentary presents gift cards and mobile rewards as ways for programmes to offer more immediately usable value. Its commercial argument centres on connecting those choices through APIs, allowing an existing loyalty service to buy reward fulfilment without building every supplier relationship itself. [S01] The publication is a supplier’s assessment of programme design, rather than an independent forecast of what all consumers will do in 2026. That distinction matters because several of the approaches it favours match the services it sells. The infrastructure company behind the trends Reloadly’s earlier company reporting described a developer-oriented mobile top-up business that also intended to expand into gift vouchers. The current loyalty proposition fits that distribution background: make a range of externally supplied value accessible through software. [S02] That gives the company an interest in programmes that redeem rewards frequently and in several formats. A reward that sits only in a loyalty account does not create the same distribution activity as an order for a merchant card or mobile service. For the programme operator, external fulfilment can reduce the number of direct commercial connections to maintain. It also concentrates reliance on a provider's catalogue, transaction records and service. The gain is operational simplicity if those components work well, not the elimination of supplier risk. More options are useful only when they fit the recipient The January commentary favours personalisation, mobile access and connected reward offerings. These can reduce the distance between earning value and finding an appropriate use for it. The source does