Channel loyalty programs
Channel loyalty programs for the people outside the brand payroll
The distributor, the retailer and the mechanic influence the purchase decision. None of the three is on the brand payroll. GRG India designs, runs and manages the loyalty program behind that decision.
- Distributors, retailers, influencers, dealership teams, direct sales teams and store staff earn on one platform.
- Each partner has one record across every scheme.
- Payment reaches the verified account of the partner, usually within 24 hours of approval.
The program runs on My Incentives, the GRG India channel loyalty platform.
The audiences
Six audiences on one platform
A loyalty program for channel partners and a sales incentive scheme run on the same platform. A person enrols once for every scheme.
| Audience | What the audience influences | What the audience earns on |
|---|---|---|
| Distributor | The stock level, paid for from own working capital | Volume slabs and territory coverage |
| Retailer or dealer | The counter space given to each brand | Verified secondary sales and focus products |
| Influencer: mechanic, technician, carpenter, painter or applicator | The brand recommended on the job | A code scan or an invoice photograph |
| Dealership sales team | The product recommended to the customer | Target achievement, approved along the reporting line |
| Direct sales team | Primary sales against the plan | Targets and slabs set by region |
| Franchise store staff | The product shown first at the counter | Monthly rules by brand, category and store format |
How it runs
Three steps on the channel loyalty platform
The brand sets the budget and the scheme. The platform handles sign-up, recording and payout.
Sign-up and verification
The partner signs up once. The platform checks PAN, bank account and mobile number before the first payment.
Recording the sale
A code scan, an invoice photograph or a distributor data feed records each sale against the partner.
Calculation and payout
The platform works out the earning as data arrives. Approved amounts reach the partner by bank transfer, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) or voucher.
A channel incentive program on this platform runs a national scheme, a regional campaign and a product launch at the same time.
What is different
Four requirements of a B2B loyalty platform
The brand does not employ the people on a channel loyalty program. Loyalty program software for channel incentives pays them.
Scheme changes without a software release
Rates, slabs and reward levels are settings. The program team changes them in hours at no extra cost.
Visit list for the brand field team
The list shows each retailer short of a slab. The manager closes the gap during the visit.
Misuse checks before payment
The platform flags duplicate identities, claims from outside the mapped territory and unusual scan speed first.
Program messages on WhatsApp
The platform sends target alerts, scheme announcements and statements in the language of the partner.
A B2B rewards program needs all four.
Results
Changes on programs already running
Figures as of March 2026.
The brand field team signed retailers up on a mobile form.
A real-time calculation on the platform replaced the monthly spreadsheet.
Each program has separate rules, users and rewards on one platform.
Clients
Brands served by GRG India
Next step
A walkthrough of a channel loyalty program for your channel
Tell us the channel and the number of partners. We will show how the program would be set up for it.
The call takes twenty minutes and includes a screen share.
Or write to contactus@grgindia.in
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
What a channel loyalty program is, how it is run and how partners are paid.
A program that rewards the distributors, retailers, influencers and sales teams who move a brand’s product. The brand does not employ most of them, so the program identifies each one, records what they sold and pays them directly. One platform covers every audience, and each audience earns on its own measure.
In three steps. The partner signs up once and the platform checks PAN, bank account and mobile number before the first payment. A code scan, an invoice photograph or a distributor data feed then records each sale against that partner. The platform works out the earning as data arrives, and approved amounts reach the partner by bank transfer, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) or voucher, usually within 24 hours of approval.
Designing a scheme, recording what each partner sells, working out what each one earns and paying it, across every scheme a brand has live at the same time. A channel incentive program on one platform runs a national scheme, a regional campaign and a product launch together.
A trade scheme changes the price on the invoice. A loyalty program pays a named partner against a verified action, and the record, the completed verification and the earning history stay with that partner across every scheme.
They pay on different things, because the two audiences influence different things. A distributor decides the stock level, paid for from its own working capital, so it earns on volume slabs and territory coverage. A retailer or dealer decides the counter space given to each brand, so it earns on verified secondary sales and focus products.
The platform works out the earning as data arrives, applying the rates, slabs and reward levels set for each audience. Those are settings rather than code, so the program team changes them in hours at no extra cost and without a software release.
Software that runs a loyalty program for people a brand does not employ. It has to verify an unfamiliar partner’s identity and bank account, apply different earning rules to distributors, retailers, influencers and sales teams at the same time, and pay a business rather than a consumer.
The platform flags duplicate identities, claims from outside the mapped territory and unusual scan speed before payment. PAN, bank account and mobile number are checked before a partner can be paid at all.
Section 194R of the Income-tax Act requires the person providing a benefit or perquisite arising from a resident’s business or profession to deduct tax at 10 per cent of its value. It has applied since 1 July 2022, and is triggered once the value provided to one recipient crosses ₹20,000 in a financial year. The Central Board of Direct Taxes has clarified that ordinary sales discounts, cash discounts and rebates fall outside it, while incentives given in cash or in kind, free samples and sponsored trips fall inside it. That is why a verified PAN sits against every partner record before anything is paid. Confirm how it applies to your own scheme with your tax advisor.
Source: Income Tax Department, Government of India — Section 194R
McKinsey puts trade incentives at 8 to 11 per cent of revenue for most organisations, with some spending up to 20 per cent, based on its analysis of India-specific trade scheme spend. The same work found that more than half of channel partners with flat or falling sales still receive incentives, often because volume slabs reward absolute scale rather than growth. A channel loyalty program narrows that gap by paying a named partner against a verified action instead of spreading a budget across a territory.
Source: McKinsey & Company, “Reimagining trade spend”, June 2026
Yes. Tajonline (India) Pvt. Ltd., trading as GRG India, holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate GIS1115, issued by Shamkris Global Inspection Services. The certified scope is reward and recognition programs, incentive and loyalty programs, and sales schemes and promotions for corporate clients, so it covers the work described on this page rather than a separate part of the business. First registered in July 2021 and valid to 1 July 2027. The number can be checked against the certification body’s public register.
Source: Shamkris Global certificate register — check certificate GIS1115