Future of fly buys

[oz_mark]

After reading about Vintage Cellars exit from Fly Buys and Coles Express halving its earn rate, I started to wonder if this program is slowly fading away. No promotions of much significance for a while....

[austrider]

I still remember when it first came out, it was such a big hit and everyone was using it. I remember going to Kmart Auto to get my tyres because of some FB promo. Overall I got a trip or two and a nice dinner at the tramcar restaurant from it, but has since switched to Amex/Visa for points in QF/SQ.

I think it is fading away right now - given the popularity of credit card-based loyalty program is such much more convenient (earn points at all stores and not a separate card). Although I still carry the card around, I never take it out anymore.

The only future I see it is similar to the MyerOne card, where the points are automatically converted to giftcards and send to you on a periodical basis.

[Pointburner]

I still use mine regularly - and regularly get rewards. I still think there's a big place for it. While all the credit cards now have separate loyalty fees, Fly Buys is still free. So why wouldn't I use it? It doesn't have some of the features of the credit card programs but it doesn't actually stop me using both. I've also still used it for flights, and never had anything like the hassle of finding availability that I've had with Qantas.

[MelUser]

When Wesfarmers bought Coles, they slashed all senior staff at flybuys including the General Manager. Flybuys is continuing quite captainless at the moment and it seems that may well be dismantled in the future. This is in keeping with Wesfarmers ethos that all its business units run separately rather than through a central model as Coles (formerly Coles Myer) did.

[Pointburner]

When Wesfarmers bought Coles, they slashed all senior staff at flybuys including the General Manager. Flybuys is continuing quite captainless at the moment and it seems that may well be dismantled in the future. This is in keeping with Wesfarmers ethos that all its business units run separately rather than through a central model as Coles (formerly Coles Myer) did.

As far as I know, it's owned by Nab and Wesfarmers, not just the latter. So I don't think it's up to just Wesfarmers. I would have thought firstly that the data would be of great value to the various Wesfarmers businesses and secondly that the option for the big brands to stay in Fly Buys would be cheaper than doing their own thing like Myer have done. Myer can afford to do their own thing because they make bigger margins. Hardly the same for supermarkets and businesses like Kmart and Target. My mail is that most of the staff at Fly Buys are still there and that includes senior guys who have a lot of loyalty experience.

[Damien]

I got bored with it a few months ago when it became more convenient to do the grocery shopping at Woolies. I persevered until I had enough points for 10 movie tickets and then pulled out. The last couple of months were the hardest because it just seemed like no points were coming in.

[markis10]

Myer can afford to do their own thing because they make bigger margins. Hardly the same for supermarkets and businesses like Kmart and Target.

Myer typically had smaller margins than the supermarkets under coles myer days and both are now trading around the same at 5%, interestingly thats a third of the margin Westfarmers have been making prior to their takeover and both are still short of the 5.7% that is made by Woolies.
Kmart has been reporting margin of 14.6 and Target 19.5% based on 1H 08 results, thats a lot more than MYER

[kkutasi]

After reading about Vintage Cellars exit from Fly Buys and Coles Express halving its earn rate, I started to wonder if this program is slowly fading away. No promotions of much significance for a while....

to be honest, i thought this program had already faded long ago.

for many years now you've needed a $50K spend to get a toaster reward. so it hasnt been worth the effort.

sure, some say if they shop at Coles or Kmart they pull the card out and get some free points. but its not worth going out your way for, so most people i know dont even bother carrying the card on them anymore.

Like all rewards programs, everyone now has them, so the competitive advantage of offering them with generous rewards in the early days has gone. Now they just devalue them more and more.

When was the last time you can remember a program being 'enhanced' in a way that we actually got excited about?

[simongr]

When was the last time you can remember a program being 'enhanced' in a way that we actually got excited about?

You have seen the Amex thread with 1200 replies havent you

I would agree that there have been few true enhancements that spring to mind - although with QF restricting points transfers Amex has lowered redemption rates on some airline partners. Not exactly silly hats and streamers excitement though...

[albatross710]

I don't even bother swiping my FlyBuys card anymore.

I still get the monthly points from a small spend on a NAB visa.


If anyone has an old Flybuys letter with the GM's name put it through a google search and see where they have turned up.