Consumer credit behavior is fragmenting. Shoppers now assemble debit, credit, and BNPL into a personal portfolio and switch between them by context rather than committing to one card. That threatens static loyalty and co-brand programs, but it’s an opening for retailers. The solution is a flexible credential: a single card that lets users choose debit, credit, or installments at the moment of purchase.

The loyalty math retail can’t out-spend

Loyalty programs aren’t holding. Consumers belong to more than a dozen each, engagement has been sliding, and 81% of Gen Z and Millennials switched brands in the past year. Adding tiers or bigger welcome bonuses hasn’t reversed this, because a free program costs nothing to leave and can always be outbid.

Shoppers carry a portfolio, not one card

Marqeta’s 2026 State of Credit research shows credit is now a set of tools people move between based on what they’re buying and their cash flow:

  • 66% of consumers own a credit card, and 57% of those carry more than one
  • 79% of BNPL users keep using BNPL even when they have a credit card
  • 85% weigh multiple factors before deciding how to pay
  • 59% used both debit and credit within a single 90-day window

Retail already owns the front door

Among consumers with multiple financial products from one provider, 33% started with the credit card (60% among 18–34 year olds). A co-brand card is therefore an acquisition channel for a durable relationship, not just an interchange line. Retail also has a trust advantage: 47% of consumers would trust a large retailer for financial services.

Demand is concentrated where retail’s growth is

  • 48% of consumers aged 18–44 want a card that switches between debit, credit, and BNPL at purchase (vs. 23% of those 65+)
  • 71% of multi-card holders aged 18–44 want to consolidate onto one credential
  • Retail businesses are also the most receptive industry to operating such a program

What is a flexible credential?

A single card that lets a consumer choose, at purchase, whether to pay via debit, credit, or installments, with no extra cards or apps. Building one requires an issuing platform that can combine multiple funding sources on one credential, route transactions in real time (typically under two seconds), manage authorization, clearing, and settlement across rails, and maintain network compliance for each payment type.

What it enables for retailers

  • Harder-to-leave relationships: A card with financing, real rewards, and universal acceptance earns top-of-wallet status.
  • One credential for the whole portfolio: No separate debit, credit, and BNPL app.
  • BNPL comes home: The retailer, not a third party, owns the installment data and loyalty.
  • Declines aren’t dead ends: Offer a build-toward-qualifying alternative in the moment.
  • Bigger, more frequent carts: Shoppers don’t downsize purchases to fit the payment method they have on hand.

Spend data is another prize

Every transaction on the card generates spend data, including purchases outside the retailer’s own stores, which loyalty databases never see. Retailers can use it for rewards matched to real behavior, dynamic incentives, personalized offers, and new revenue from merchant partners. Unlike a points balance, this asset compounds with every use.

The resistance is thinner than it looks

  • 81% of initially uninterested consumers see real benefits once shown the concrete value
  • Among interested consumers, 67% say it would replace their debit card, 71% their credit card, and 71% would stop using separate BNPL apps
  • 33% are interested in a co-brand debit card (41% among 18–44); interest in co-brand debit with BNPL reaches 53% of 25–34 year olds who don’t qualify for credit
  • With real incentives, 65% of previously neutral consumers move into consideration

Don’t lose them at checkout

About 70% of e-commerce carts are abandoned, with payment friction a leading cause. 60% of consumers aged 25–44 want more flexible payment options at the point of decision.

The bottom line

Credit behavior has fragmented faster than most retail card programs have adapted. For retail, that’s an opening: it already has the trust, the front-door position, and the appetite to build a program that matches how shoppers behave now.

Want to see what a flexible credential could do for your program? Contact us.