Dick’s Sporting Goods just put a price tag on loyalty. As of July 1, the retailer is charging $99 a year for ScoreCard+, a paid tier that sits on top of its free ScoreCard program and hands members guaranteed rewards, free shipping, and service discounts. It is the same move Amazon made with Prime and Walmart made with Walmart+, and now a specialty retailer is running the same playbook. If you sell high-ticket products online, this is worth two minutes of your attention, because the reason a $30 billion retailer is doing this tells you exactly where your own money is hiding.
I run niche stores and manage ads for high-ticket clients, and the first thing I told my team when this hit was that we are not copying the membership fee. A $99 paywall makes zero sense for a store that sells someone a $2,400 sauna once every five years. But the mechanic underneath it, paying real money to own the customer relationship after the first sale, is the single most underbuilt part of almost every high-ticket store I audit. This is what I want to break down for you here, and it connects to everything we teach at Ecommerce Paradise about profit over volume. If you are still deciding what to sell, my high-ticket niches list is the place to start before you worry about retention at all.
These loyalty programs run on customer data, and so does your legal exposure. The one data point you cannot opt out of publishing is the address on your LLC filing. See why I use Northwest as my registered agent →
Dick’s Sporting Goods Launches $99 ScoreCard+ Paid Membership
Here is what Dick’s actually rolled out. ScoreCard+ costs $99 a year and layers premium perks on top of the free ScoreCard program the retailer already ran. Members get unlimited free standard shipping, a guaranteed $100 in rewards each year paid out in $25 increments every quarter, and one free service or experience annually worth up to $100, according to the company’s announcement.
On top of that, members get an always-on 20% discount on in-store services and experiences, access to member-only deals, a shot at 3x points on one purchase per year, and a limited-time $100 credit toward Dick’s owned brands. The company pegs the total value at more than $350 for the $99 fee. Per Retail Dive, the retailer framed this as giving its most engaged shoppers more ways to earn rather than putting existing perks behind a wall.
Dick’s also sweetened the free tier at the same time. Free ScoreCard members can now cash in 150 points for a $5 reward instead of waiting to hit 300 points for a $10 reward, as reported by Digital Commerce 360. That combination is the tell. The retailer lowered the barrier to earning on the free program to pull more casual buyers into the data pool, then built a paid tier to squeeze more frequency and spend out of the buyers who already love the brand.
This is not charity and it is not really about the perks. A retailer only charges a recurring fee when it knows the fee pays for itself in repeat purchases and behavioral data. TheStreet put Dick’s directly in the same category as Amazon and Walmart, and that comparison is the whole story. Loyalty stopped being a punch card years ago. It is now a paid subscription designed to make leaving expensive.
How Amazon Prime and Walmart+ Turned Loyalty Into a $61 Billion Paywall
To understand why Dick’s is doing this now, you have to look at how big the paid-membership business has quietly become. The US paid retail membership fee market is worth roughly $61.4 billion in 2026. Amazon Prime alone controls about 68.4% of that, close to $42 billion in fee revenue, and Prime members spend more than double what non-member Amazon shoppers spend.
Walmart+ is the proof that a latecomer can still win. It launched in September 2020 and already holds around 5.2% of the paid membership market with 28.4 million members and double-digit growth reported into this year, according to PYMNTS. The spend gap is the part that matters for you. Walmart+ members spend about $79 per online visit versus $62 for non-members, and they shop roughly 29 times a year against 18 for everyone else.
Read those numbers as an operator, not a shopper. A member does not just spend more per order. They come back more often, they buy across more categories, and they hand the retailer a clean stream of first-party data that gets more valuable every quarter Google and Apple make ad targeting harder. That is why a sporting goods chain is willing to eat margin on free shipping and quarterly rewards. It is buying frequency and data, and both compound.
The trend is only accelerating because tracking is getting worse. When you cannot follow a customer around the web with a pixel anymore, the customer who voluntarily logs into your program and swipes a membership becomes the most valuable asset you own. The giants figured this out first. Specialty retailers like Dick’s are the second wave. Independent store owners are almost always the last to move, which is exactly why there is an opening here.
What Paid Loyalty Means for a High-Ticket Dropshipping Store
Now the part that actually applies to your store. The membership model works because sporting goods, groceries, and general merchandise are high-frequency purchases. Someone buys athletic gear, protein, and kids’ cleats a dozen times a year, so a $99 fee that unlocks free shipping and rewards pays off fast for both sides. High-ticket dropshipping is the mirror image. Your customer buys one $2,000 fireplace or one $3,500 outdoor kitchen and then does not need another for years. A paid annual membership is a nonstarter for that buyer, and anyone telling you to bolt one on is copying the tactic without understanding the math.
So do not copy the fee. Copy the reason for the fee. Dick’s, Amazon, and Walmart are all paying to own the post-purchase relationship and the data that comes with it. On a high-ticket store, that same goal shows up in a completely different set of moves: a strong email list you actually control, a post-purchase flow that sells the accessories and consumables attached to the big unit, warranty and protection plans, referrals, and service so good the buyer sends you their neighbor. I broke this down in depth in my guide to customer retention email strategies, and it is where most of the hidden money in high-ticket lives.
Run the numbers and it gets obvious. Say your average order is $2,000 at a 20% gross margin, so you clear about $400 gross per sale. One accessory attach at $300, one warranty upsell, or one referred customer is worth more to you than any points scheme a big-box store could dream up. You do not need a shopper to come back 29 times a year. You need to capture the follow-on revenue around that one big purchase and the second buyer it can generate. That is a retention strategy sized for high-ticket reality.
Picture it on a real niche. Say you sell outdoor saunas at a $2,500 average order. The membership crowd would tell you to charge a fee for perks. The high-ticket move is to map the revenue that naturally follows that sauna: a cover, aromatherapy oils and cleaning supplies that reorder on their own, a maintenance kit, an extended warranty, and eventually a cold plunge or an upgrade when the buyer is ready. None of that needs a paywall. It needs you to know the buyer bought, stay in front of them by email, and have the follow-on products ready to go. Do that across a focused catalog and your revenue per customer climbs without a single new visitor, which is the exact outcome the giants are paying $99 a head to manufacture. It is also why I push people to go deep in one niche before going wide, because a tight catalog is what makes these attach and reorder plays work. If you have not locked your vertical yet, my breakdown of real high-ticket products that sell is a good gut check.
The data-ownership piece is just as important. The giants are building a moat out of first-party data. Your version of that moat is smaller but you can actually own it: your email and SMS list through a tool like Omnisend, your reviews and post-purchase requests through Yotpo, and your customer conversations through a helpdesk like Gorgias. When those three are wired together, you have the same asset Dick’s is paying $99 a head to build, except you are not renting it from a platform. If wiring that whole retention stack together sounds like more than you want to take on while also running ads and sourcing, that is exactly the kind of build my team handles inside the turnkey done-for-you service.
New to high-ticket and not sure where retention even fits in the bigger picture? Grab the free beginner guide and get the whole model in order first. Download the free beginner guide →
How to Build Repeat Revenue Without a $99 Membership Wall
Here is what I would do this week if you want the lifetime-value upside without charging your customers a dime to be loyal.
- Turn on a real post-purchase email sequence. The moment someone buys, they should get a series that confirms the order, sets delivery expectations, and then pitches the accessories and add-ons that fit the product. My walkthrough on building a post-purchase email sequence lays out the exact emails and timing.
- Sell the warranty and the accessories, not a membership. Attach a protection plan and the obvious add-ons to every high-ticket product page and confirmation email. This is the high-ticket version of a rewards program, and it protects margin instead of giving it away.
- Make service your loyalty program. On high-ticket, one great phone call closes deals and creates referrals. Put a real number on the site through something like Grasshopper and add live chat with Tidio so buyers can reach a human before and after the sale. My guide to customer service for high-ticket dropshipping covers how to build that experience.
- Systemize reviews and referrals. Ask every happy buyer for a review and give them a reason to send a friend. Start with my breakdown on how to get reviews for your store, then automate the requests.
- Own your list and your fulfillment data. Pipe everything into your email platform and keep your order fulfillment tight so post-purchase timing is accurate. If you want the tactical version of these plays every week, I share store teardowns and the exact flows on my Patreon.
- Get a second opinion on your specific store. If you already have traffic and sales but repeat revenue is flat, that is usually a fixable retention gap. You can book a discovery call and we will map where your lifetime value is leaking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I add a paid membership to my high-ticket store?
Almost never. Paid memberships pay off when customers buy often, and high-ticket buyers purchase once every few years. Put that energy into post-purchase email, accessories, and referrals instead.
What is the real lesson from Dick’s ScoreCard+?
The retailer is paying to own the customer relationship and the first-party data after the sale. That goal applies to every store, even if the $99 fee does not.
How do high-ticket stores make repeat revenue if buyers rarely reorder?
Through attached accessories, warranty and protection plans, cross-sells within the niche, and referrals. One referred buyer or one warranty upsell often beats a whole points program.
Which tools should I use to build my own retention stack?
An email and SMS platform like Omnisend, reviews through Yotpo, and shipment tracking through AfterShip so post-purchase timing is accurate.
Why does first-party data matter so much right now?
Pixel-based ad targeting keeps getting weaker, so customers who log in and hand you their data directly are the most valuable asset you own. That is the whole reason retailers are racing to build paid programs.
Do I need a big team to run all this?
No, but it is a lot to build while running ads and sourcing. A single virtual assistant hired through OnlineJobs.ph can own most of the retention workflow once the flows are set up.
Is high-ticket dropshipping still worth it with all these giants competing?
Yes, because you are not competing on frequency or price. You win on niche focus, service, and margin. My honest take is in my post on whether high-ticket dropshipping is still profitable.
Want my team to build and run your high-ticket store, retention flows and all, so you skip the trial and error? See the turnkey done-for-you service →
Loyalty just became a paid product at another major retailer, and the smart read is not to copy the fee. It is to build the relationship the fee is protecting, sized for how high-ticket actually works. Own your list, own your service, and capture the revenue around every big sale. Subscribe to the YouTube channel for daily breakdowns. More breaking news later today.
Related Articles
If this was useful, these go deeper:
- Customer Retention Email Strategies to Maximize Lifetime Value
- How to Create a Post-Purchase Email Sequence That Drives Repeat Sales
- Customer Service for High-Ticket Dropshipping
- Best Shopify Email Marketing Apps for High-Ticket Dropshipping
- How to Find Suppliers for High-Ticket Products
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
