The news: Shell launched the Shell Performance Elite World Mastercard, a co-brand credit card that offers rich rewards on everyday essentials with no annual fee, per a press release.

Cardholders can earn 4% back on fuel, EV charging, and qualifying Shell station purchases, 3% back on dining and groceries, and 2% back on all other purchases.

How we got here: Consumers are looking for financial products to help them navigate the higher cost of living, especially around fuel. Twenty-nine percent of US consumers are “very worried” about affording gas and transportation costs, per an April KFF report.

Why this matters: Issuers have seized on an opportunity to snag new cardholders by targeting them with rich rewards on everyday purchases.

• Chime’s Prime Card offers 5% back on the category of the cardholder’s choosing, such as groceries, gas, restaurants, and monthly bills. (The card now controls 25% of Chime’s total purchase volume, per Q1 2026 earnings.)
• SoFi’s Smart Card rewards users 5% on groceries.

Co-brand cards have historically focused their rewards firepower on transactions in their own stores. But now, co-brands tied to a single everyday expense category are making a play for more general-purpose use by raising their rewards multiples in other categories. Amazon’s recently relaunched business card did the same thing when it added 5% back on travel and 2% on all other spending, encouraging cardholders to make the co-brand their primary card. 

Implications for co-brands: Consumers want payment tools that help offset the rising cost of living. 

Co-brands connected to essential categories like groceries, healthcare, and fuel can lock in top-of-wallet status by offering competitive cash back outside of their brands’ core sector. Rewards in multiple categories can lock in cardholder loyalty long after the fuel crisis eases.