The retail landscape in 2025 is a vastly different proposition from what existed even a few years ago. Customer journeys that were the realm of science fiction at the beginning of the decade are now commonplace. Digital platforms, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled personalisation and evolving customer expectations are reshaping what loyalty means, how convenience is delivered and how resilience is built for the future.
The UAE provides the perfect backdrop for this change and is setting standards for this rapid change globally. With 99 percent of the population online, according to DataReportal, the UAE is one of the most digitally connected countries in the world and a global testbed for innovation. In this environment, the future of customer experience is already the new normal.
Loyalty reinvented: From points to personalisation
Digital transformation has fundamentally reshaped loyalty programmes. What once centred on simple point collection has matured into a data-driven ecosystem powered by advanced analytics and AI.
Today, real-time insights allow us to better understand customers, anticipate their needs, and deliver personalised rewards exactly when and how they want them. This marks an evolution of digital transformation into an AI-native mindset, where loyalty is not a mere add-on but is woven into every experience. Loyalty programmes now act as a catalyst for customer engagement, stronger connections and long-term value.
Already, AI is driving impact at scale: customer apps deliver hyper-localised results, while advanced analytics optimise pricing, stock flows and operations. These tools tailor experiences both in-store and online, while making our networks more adaptive and future-ready.
Our ADNOC Rewards programme, launched in 2020, was a defining milestone. It transformed how we serve customers, creating one of the region’s most comprehensive ecosystems. Members can access tailored offers from more than 150 partners, redeem points seamlessly across different loyalty programmes, and enjoy experiences that extend well beyond fuel and retail.
Our loyalty programme is constantly adapting, especially as we leverage AI-powered tools to design seamless journeys that connect mobility, lifestyle and everyday retail.
This approach strengthens relationships, builds trust and creates tangible value for the communities we serve. And it’s good for business: on average, our loyalty customers spend 20 per cent more with each visit than non-loyalty customers do.
Key pillars shaping the future of AI-native retail
Loyalty programmes are just one aspect of our industry that is being rapidly transformed in the emergent age of AI. By embedding intelligence into every decision and system retailers are now able to unlock opportunities that simply did not exist mere months ago. Across ADNOC Distribution, we are becoming AI native: embedding these tools across our value chain to drive progress across three key pillars: growth, customer experience and operational efficiency.
On growth, we are using AI to help us understand what products should appear on our shelves, where to optimise pricing, and where we should consider building new outlets to better meet demand.
When it comes to customer experience, we are embedding advanced technologies into every interaction. This includes personalised offers, seamless fuelling and EV charging, app-to-car ordering, autonomous checkout and other quality-of-life innovations that directly improve convenience.
Across the convenience retail industry, AI-powered smart assortment planning – which we’ve also already implemented – has driven a 150 per cent uplift in stock keeping unit (SKU) adoption and 25 per cent annual growth in key categories, according to Cognitive Market Research.
This is further proof that AI can translate into more relevant and satisfying journeys for every customer while powering growth.
In terms of efficiencies, we use predictive analytics to reduce stock-outs, optimise manpower through advanced algorithmic planning linked to predicted footfall and streamline our operations by incorporating automated systems wherever possible.
For example, at ADNOC Distribution, workforce optimisation has delivered $40m in annual cost avoidance, while our fuel demand model predicts demand across our network with 99 per cent accuracy, facilitating 190 million annual fuel transactions.
Ultimately, embracing AI across these three pillars serves a singular goal: to create the industry’s best customer experiences.
Leading with purpose: Turning change into advantage
With any paradigm shift, it is important that new systems are designed with resilience prioritised from the start. Supply chains face constant tests from global disruptions and consumer behaviour shifts, requiring organisations to adapt quickly while staying true to their long-term purpose.
During the pandemic, for example, companies with strong digital platforms were better able to navigate disruption than those reliant on legacy infrastructure. Digital transformation is not an endpoint, but rather cycles of testing, learning and adapting. With the shift to AI well and truly underway, what matters is embedding agility and resilience into the DNA of
every business.
At ADNOC Distribution, this is the path we are taking. But more broadly, it is also a call to action for the region: to embrace AI not just for efficiency, but for its ability to unlock new value, empower better experiences and future-proof entire industries.
Whether companies like it or not, embracing these changes is not optional to thrive in a rapidly changing retail landscape. The question is: Who will adapt with confidence, and who will be left behind?
By Jacqueline Elboghdadi, Chief Marketing Officer, ADNOC Distribution
