Switching from Alpine IQ to Sticky Cards, step by step

Why dispensaries move off Alpine IQ

The reasons we hear are about operating effort, not about capability. Alpine IQ is a deep platform, and the teams that get the most from it have someone whose job is to run it. The marketing lead at a one to six store group usually does not. That mismatch, rather than any missing feature, is what starts most of these conversations.

The three we hear most often: the platform takes specialist knowledge to operate day to day, the bill is assembled from separately licensed modules so the total is hard to predict, and support runs through a ticket queue. We are reporting what operators tell us. Your own agreement and your own invoice are the only versions that bind you, so pull both before you compare anything.

What a loyalty program has to do is narrower than what a platform can do. Enrollment has to happen without holding up the line, points have to post on every order, and a reward has to come off the ticket at the counter.

Side by side: Alpine IQ capability and the Sticky Cards equivalent

Every Alpine IQ capability has a Sticky Cards equivalent, and the mapping is agreed in writing before you sign. A customer data platform, or CDP, is the system that unifies one shopper's records across online, in store and loyalty into a single profile. Alpine IQ calls its version Persona CRM. Sticky Cards reads the same identities from your point of sale into one customer record.

Two notes on what this table does not say. It does not compare prices, because Alpine IQ does not publish a rate card and we will not guess at yours. It does not count features on either side.

The one difference worth stating plainly is where a reward is redeemed. Sticky Cards redemption happens inside the point of sale the budtender is already using, not in a separate app the customer has to open at the counter.

What migration looks like

Migration runs in a fixed order, and Sticky Cards does the work. Four stages:

First, export. You pull your member records and point balances out of Alpine IQ. We tell you exactly which exports to request and in what format.

Second, map. Your Alpine IQ audiences, journeys and loyalty rules are matched to their Sticky Cards equivalents, and you approve the mapping before anything is imported. Consent records and the original opt-in source for every member come across with the list, so your compliance position on day one is the one you already had.

Third, import and reconcile. Member list and point balances load into Sticky Cards. You get a before and after balance report to review and sign off before go-live.

Fourth, cut over. Your wallet pass design goes live, members are told once, and the pass lands in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, the app already on the phone, with nothing to download. Earning restarts on the next ticket.

Two things to settle before you start. Check your Alpine IQ renewal date and notice period, because the cancellation notice has to be delivered on time for you to avoid paying two vendors in the same month. And decide what happens to any Alpine IQ built mobile app in your member announcement.

Who should stay on Alpine IQ

Stay if you have the team to run it. Alpine IQ is the stronger choice for a large multi-state operator with developers on staff, granular role and audit requirements, parent and child brand accounts, and channels Sticky Cards does not operate itself, such as direct mail and voice. If your loyalty program is already wired into enrichment and identity work that a specialist maintains, the switching cost is real and the gain is small.

Sticky Cards is the better fit when the person running marketing is also the person buying the software, the program lives or dies on repeat visits, and you want one bill instead of a stack of modules.

Why repeat visits are where the money is

Loyalty enrollment is near universal and active use is not, which is where a dispensary can win. The 2025 EY Loyalty Market Study found 92 percent of consumers enrolled in at least one loyalty program, with almost half in more than five (EY Loyalty Market Study, 2025). Deloitte's retail loyalty research puts the average consumer at eight programs enrolled and five actively used (Deloitte, reshaping loyalty programs).

The ticket size tells you why the operating cost of the platform matters. According to Headset point of sale data, US cannabis sales reached $24.3 billion across 16 tracked state markets in the 12 months ending June 2026, over 473.8 million transactions at an average basket of $47.29 holding 2.74 items (Headset, cannabis industry statistics). At a basket under fifty dollars, every monthly module fee has to earn itself back in incremental visits.

Common questions about switching from Alpine IQ

Will I lose capability by moving off Alpine IQ? Every Alpine IQ capability is mapped to a Sticky Cards equivalent and agreed with you in writing before you sign, and the mapping is shared as a document you keep. Direct mail and voice are the exceptions, which Sticky Cards does not operate itself.

What happens to my member point balances? Balances are exported from Alpine IQ, imported into Sticky Cards, and returned to you as a before and after report that you review and approve before go-live.

What does Sticky Cards cost compared with Alpine IQ? Your Sticky Cards price is quoted on the demo call, and it is month to month with no setup fee and credits that never expire. Alpine IQ does not publish a rate card, so bring your own invoice and compare it against your quote rather than against any published figure.

Do my customers need to download an app? No. The Sticky Cards loyalty card is an Apple Wallet or Google Wallet pass, so it installs into the wallet app already on the phone and the reward is applied at the counter inside your point of sale.

My Alpine IQ contract renews soon. What do I do first? Find your renewal date and the notice period in your agreement, then tell us both, so the cancellation notice goes in on time and go-live is timed to follow the end of your Alpine IQ term.