Franklins, Woolworths and Coles currently all have so called "loyalty" programs designed to retain business and in theory keep you playing the Jewish Piano in their stores.
The following comes from Franklins' own website:
http://www.franklins.com.au/home/inner.asp?mainID=3&pageID=23
- Present your Loyalty Club card when you shop at Franklins and you earn one point for every dollar you spend.
- When you reach 2000 points, you can redeem them for payment for your grocery purchases or for Franklins Vouchers.
To put this in perspective, to 2000 points gets you $20 of stuff. To get 2000 points you needed to have spent $2000. This means that effectively the rate of return is 1% of everything you've spent. If you do a weekly shop, this means 1 week in every two years is returned to you.
What happens if you choose to shop around and actually bother to look for better deals when you go shopping? Doesn't this mean by inference that you'll either spend less or worse, because you'd have spent at more places than just Franklins, that the once in two years blows out even further?
What about those small time shoppers like myself who only buy a few items during the week? Some of the things I buy don't even register a single point through the tills. Did Franklins raise their prices by 1% to cover this marvellous service? Would consumers even notice if they had done?
I don't mean to single out Franklins, but Choice magazine in one issue had worked out they Franklins had the best loyalty program. If that's the best, then that means that Woolworths' Everyday Rewards and Coles' tie-in with FlyBuys must be crudtacular.
If the supermarket giants really wanted you to "save money" they'd simply lower their prices wouldn't they? Perhaps it's just easier to take Franklins' own advice "It's cheaper through the tills, when you shop No Frills". Yeah... that's what I think of your loyalty programs.
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