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EQUIVA is a leading provider of all things equestrian: From riding clothing to horse feed and nutrition, they live by the motto: “We love, we care, we ride.” With over 80 EQUIVA stores in Germany, Austria, and Luxembourg, as well as the www.equiva.com eCommerce store, the company is on a mission to make equestrian sport an unforgettable experience for customers and their horses.
In April 2023, the company started the digital transformation process by replacing the paper sticker-point loyalty card with a mobile app that creates emotional bonds and wins members’ hearts.
Here's how they used Open Loyalty to go digital with their loyalty program, gamify the member experience, and increase share of wallet.
EQUIVA uses its mobile loyalty program to provide an exceptional customer experience and become a single source for equestrian products.
In just three months, the team
Loyalty program members show:
Referrals:
Referrals:
"The open API-first approach supported by the Open Loyalty model helped us to transform extremely fast. In less than four months, we switched from a paper card with sticker points that only worked in brick-and-mortar to an app that works omnichannel. We were able to implement features like push notifications, actions, rebates, and coupons into the loyalty app. These features drive app downloads and help us grow the program member base.."
Fritze von Berswordt
Managing Director, EQUIVA GmbH
EQUIVA had clearly defined loyalty goals, which was the main reason behind the fast and successful implementation of the program.
Most of the competitors in the equestrian industry have a frequent buyer program where customers have to spend a minimum amount of money to receive a certain percentage discount for future purchases. These programs provide discounts but lack any emotional connection with program members.
EQUIVA uses their mobile loyalty program to provide exceptional customer experience and become a single source for equestrian products.
"We wanted to create an emotional relationship with all our customers. We decided to move from competition-like tiers, e.g. bronze, silver, gold and instead refer to our customers as friends, best friends, and ultimately soulmates."
Fritze von Berswordt
Managing Director. EQUIVA GmbH
As a provider of all things equestrian, they wanted to ensure that people who buy feed and care don't have a reason to go anywhere else when they want the best for their horses.
EQUIVA had a notable number of customers who were satisfied with the traditional program and wanted their old card back. However, the old system could not track customer points digitally: it held all the customer data, but the points themselves lived as physical stickers on cards.
"The salespeople need to be convinced about the change. If they don’t believe in it, they won't be able to sell it. They need to perceive it as a chance and understand that joining the program is simple and makes their job a lot easier."
Fritze von Berswordt
Managing Director. EQUIVA GmbH
Before they went digital with the loyalty program, the customer data was stored in four separate systems: cash register, legacy customer database, newsletter system, and eCommerce store. To introduce the new program, the team had to merge it all into one customer data platform with robust APIs.
"If you work with an API-first system like Open Loyalty, you need a robust API infrastructure. We used Lobster to switch from legacy data ETL (extract, transform, load) to real-time APIs."
Fritze von Berswordt
Managing Director. EQUIVA GmbH
The CRM team is learning to use the full potential of Open Loyalty to move customers higher up in the program and increase share of wallet. They're testing and learning the use of features that might suit their program, e.g. push notifications, coupons, and campaigns.
“The open API-first approach supported by the Open Loyalty model helped us to transform extremely fast. In less than four months, we switched from a paper card with sticker points that only worked in brick-and-mortar to an app that works omni-channel. We were able to implement features like push notifications, actions, rebates, and coupons into the loyalty app. These features make people download the app and help us grow the program member base.”
Fritze von Berswordt
Managing Director. EQUIVA GmbH
“When planning the digital transformation we needed to support our “we love, we care, we ride” claim quickly. We didn’t want to build the technology ourselves. Instead, we partnered up with professionals who do it for us so that we can transform very fast. We used Open Loyalty pre-build modules, applied the loyalty mechanics via API to our tech stack and focused fully on the customer experience.”
Fritze von Berswordt
Managing Director. EQUIVA GmbH
EQUIVA launched its new digital loyalty program in less than four months. The team replaced a paper sticker-point card with an omnichannel mobile app, integrated it with the existing tech stack (point of sale, customer data platform, newsletter system, eCommerce, and mobile app), and enrolled more than 50% of the original paper cardholders within the first three months.
After switching to the Friends mobile app, EQUIVA members showed a 23% higher average transaction value, a 42% higher average number of transactions, and roughly double the buying frequency of non-members. By February 2025, 82% of active customers had joined the program, average annual revenue per customer grew 30% year-over-year, physical store visits rose 21%, and "Max Share of Wallet" customers (those spending more than 50% of their €1,000+ category budget with EQUIVA) grew 14%.
EQUIVA has saved approximately €240,000 in customer acquisition costs through the Friends referral feature, which brought in over 12,000 referred customers as of February 2025. In the program's first six months (September 2023), the referral mechanic had already delivered 3,400 new customers at a saving of roughly €68,000.
The EQUIVA Friends program has three tiers: Friend, Best Friend, and Soulmate. Members earn two Hearts for every euro spent, and higher tiers unlock deeper discounts of up to 10% on every purchase — including items already on sale. Horse owners who spend at least €50 on food in a single visit earn the "Chefkoch" badge, which fast-tracks them to Best Friend status with 400 bonus Hearts.
EQUIVA chose Open Loyalty for its API-first architecture and pre-built loyalty modules, which let the team go live in under four months without building the technology in-house. Open Loyalty plugged into EQUIVA's existing POS, customer data platform, newsletter system, eCommerce store, and mobile app, and supported the mechanics behind the Friends program — tiers, referrals, push notifications, coupons, and achievement-based campaigns.
