Turning student spend into lasting loyalty

Eighty-five percent of South Africans make use of loyalty programmes, according to the 2025/2026 Truth Loyalty Whitepaper, and while younger consumers use them less, providing the youth with reliable pathways to make their money go further is necessary. As the largest student discount platform in the country, Varsity Vibe understands how unpredictable student spend can be. Depending on their financial muscle at the time, young people are more than happy to switch sides if they can get more for less elsewhere, meaning their loyalty is rare and therefore, invaluable.

While we cannot control the economy and its impact on the student population, nor can we control the price of goods and services – from food and entertainment to clothing and school supplies – we can provide discounts that millions of students across the country can depend on consistently… so that’s exactly what we do.

With an average 18% of monthly transactions coming from new users redeeming a deal for the first time, brand awareness is not an issue. Turning those numbers into an average of 3.2 transactions per user per month, however, makes it clear that students trust Varsity Vibe to make everyday life more affordable, consistently. That trust, in turn, becomes an invaluable asset to our partners.

Loyalty is born of expectations consistently being met over extended periods of time. In-store pricing may change but with over 100 percentage-based discounts available, Varsity Vibe ensures that students can effectively save the same amount when shopping, regardless of inflation. For a demographic who is so price-sensitive and whose brand commitment wavers depending on the weather, we’ve managed to at least keep them walking under the same umbrella.