eBay and others leading the way for online loyalty programs
According to this New York Times story (registration required):
Yet, while nearly three-quarters of the nation's households belong to rewards programs of some kind, according to the consulting firm Forrester Research, most of them do so only offline, because such offerings have been slow to emerge on the Web. That is now changing, though, as some of the Internet's biggest companies — including eBay, LendingTree, USA Interactive and the music-sharing system KaZaA — are turning their attention to loyalty programs.
"With the land grab for online customers winding down, it's time for Internet retailers to shift their efforts to customer retention," said Carrie A. Johnson, an analyst with Forrester Research. "Rewards programs are one way to do that."