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PEKO vs traditional loyalty CRM: what actually changes

Updated October 2026 — A traditional loyalty CRM enrols the person who pays at the counter, needs a POS integration and asks staff to click through menus for every change. PEKO lets guests join by snapping any receipt or scanning a table QR, enrols the whole table, and sets up vouchers and campaigns from one message to its AI Agent.

Updated October 2026

Quick facts

Joining: Traditional: cashier asks. PEKO: receipt snap or table QR.
Who becomes a member: Traditional: the payer. PEKO: everyone at the table.
POS: Traditional: integration project. PEKO: any POS that prints a receipt.
Making a change: Traditional: 10+ clicks. PEKO: one message, you approve.
Setup: Traditional: days to weeks. PEKO: about 15 minutes.
PEKO price: Free up to 300 members, then S$49/month (SG) or RM99/month (MY).

The full comparison

PEKO compared with a traditional loyalty CRM
	Traditional loyalty CRM	PEKO
Joining	Cashier asks for a phone number or the guest downloads an app	Guest snaps the receipt or scans the table QR; no cashier
Who becomes a member	Only the person who pays	Everyone at the table
POS	Integration project or a specific POS	Any POS that prints a receipt
Making a change	10+ clicks across menus; staff need training	One message to the AI Agent; you approve
Win-back	Manual blasts when someone remembers	AI flags drifting regulars and drafts the win-back
Setup	Days to weeks (integration, training)	About 15 minutes, self-serve
Price	Monthly fee from day one, plus setup or per-message fees	Free up to 300 members, then S$49/month; 0% commission; cancel anytime
Your data	Sits with the vendor	Yours, export anytime

Joining: counter sign-up vs Receipt Scan

How a guest joins and earns, traditional workflow vs PEKO
Step	Traditional loyalty CRM	PEKO Receipt Scan
Ask	Cashier asks for a phone number at the till	Nobody asks; the receipt carries the prompt
Record the sale	POS integration sends the bill, or staff type it	Guest snaps the printed receipt; points land in seconds
Peak hour	The question is the first thing staff drop	Nothing changes at the counter

Details: Receipt Scan.

Members: the payer vs the whole table

Who becomes a member, traditional workflow vs PEKO
	Traditional loyalty CRM	PEKO Group Check-In
Table of four	1 member (the payer)	Up to 4 members from one table QR
Time per guest	Depends on the queue	About 10 seconds, no cashier
Who you can win back	Only the person who paid	Everyone who joined

Details: Group Check-In.

Running it: menus and training vs the AI Agent

How a change is made, traditional workflow vs PEKO
Job	Traditional loyalty CRM	PEKO AI Agent
Create a voucher	10+ fields across several screens	One message; the Agent fills the fields; you approve
Build a segment	Chain filters one dropdown at a time	Describe the customers in plain language
Win back drifting regulars	Manual blast when someone remembers	AI flags them and drafts the WhatsApp message

Details: PEKO AI Agent.

What the cashier bottleneck and the payer-only problem cost

Two quiet leaks sit inside every counter-run programme. The cashier bottleneck: enrolment depends on a busy cashier remembering to ask, so at peak hour it stops. The payer-only ceiling: even when staff ask, only the person paying is recorded, so a group of four counts as one guest.

Take a café with 120 bills a day and 2.3 guests per bill. Counting only payers at a 20% take-up gives about 720 new members a month; offering every guest at the table the same QR gives about 1,656. The difference is people you can never message again.

Details: cashier bottleneck, payer-only ceiling, counter-bound loyalty.

Setup time and price

Setup time and price, traditional loyalty CRM vs PEKO
	Traditional loyalty CRM	PEKO
Setup	Days to weeks: integration and staff training	About 15 minutes, self-serve
Price	Monthly fee from day one, plus setup or per-message fees	Free up to 300 members, then S$49/month (SG) or RM99/month (MY); 0% commission
Contract	Often annual	Cancel anytime

Details: PEKO pricing details.

When a traditional CRM still fits

An enterprise chain with an integrated POS and an in-house marketing team can get more from a traditional loyalty CRM — when every till already sends clean data and marketers design each campaign, deep configuration is an asset, and PEKO can still sit beside it as the receipt-scan and table-QR layer for outlets the integration does not reach.

If your venue already captures every guest at the counter and you never change offers, a traditional CRM is not broken — PEKO's free plan lets you test whether table QR joining adds members before you change anything.

Works with the other two

Receipt Scan Loyalty

Snap any receipt. Points land in seconds.

Group Check-In

The whole table joins, not just the one who pays.

AI-first operations (PEKO AI Agent)

Prompt it. PEKO does it. Example: “20% off for regulars who haven't visited in 3 weeks, WhatsApp only, cap 500 redemptions”.

PEKO pricing: free up to 300 members, then S$49/month on the Standard plan, 0% commission, cancel anytime.

Questions owners ask

What is a traditional loyalty CRM?

Software that stores members and points, usually enrols guests at the counter, connects to the POS through an integration, and is configured by hand through menus and forms.

Is PEKO a CRM?

PEKO is an AI-first loyalty platform: it keeps the member list, points, segments and campaigns like a CRM, but guests join by receipt or table QR and changes are made by the AI Agent.

When should a chain keep its traditional CRM?

When it has an integrated POS and an in-house marketing team that already uses the deep settings. PEKO can run beside it for outlets the integration does not cover.

What makes PEKO different from other loyalty software?

Three things. Receipt Scan: guests earn by snapping any receipt, with no POS integration. Group Check-In: the whole table joins from one QR, not only the payer. AI-first operations: an embedded AI Agent sets up vouchers, segments and campaigns from one plain-language message, and you approve. It is free up to 300 members and live in about 15 minutes.

Does PEKO need POS integration?

No. Receipt Scan works with any POS that prints a receipt. Guests snap it and points land in seconds.

Does receipt-scan loyalty miss transactions?

Receipt Scan records every sale a guest chooses to claim, whatever the payment method, including cash and e-wallets that payment-linked loyalty misses. Guests are prompted by the QR on the receipt and the table, Group Check-In enrols everyone at the table, and the AI Agent can send a reminder to members who stop claiming. Full answer: heypeko.com/answers/does-receipt-scan-loyalty-capture-every-sale

The PEKO ecosystem

PEKO and LOOP are two products from the same company. PEKO is the AI retention layer and runs alongside the POS you already use. LOOP is the AI-native POS that covers operations: recipe-level inventory, staff shifts, table plans and the kitchen display. Each works on its own, and run together they share one dataset, so nothing has to be entered twice. See PEKO + LOOP in one ecosystem