Woolworths backflips - QF points are coming back

[Cool Cat Phil]

We have a Coles and Woollies next to each other, and an Aldi a few metres away from them, so yes, I will only buy an orange ticket item if it is the same price or cheaper than I could buy it at Coles. As for Aldi... the quality is as good as Coles/Woollies on some items, but on others it can't compete. And sometimes there are Aussie made products I want to support at Coles/Wollies that I can't do at Aldi.
.

I'm not overly fussed on this notion of Australian V imported food, as the cost of doing business in relation to food manufacturing in Australia is horrendous.

However the Argument that Woolies is the 'home' for Australian made is simply not true.

Next time your in local Woolies take a look at all the Woolworths home brand Confectionery!
It's all imported !
A few years ago Woolies sourced all private label confectionery from Australia.
Then go down the Canned Vegetable aisle and just about the entire Homebrand & Select product range is imported too!
I haven't even mentioned the Frozen Food Aisle yet.
Take a look at the country of origin in an Aldi Store for the above categories and the results are literally the opposite.

 

[nlagalle]

With all due respect ordinary Australians really aren't major users of social media.I talk to lots of ordinary people and they really cant give a damn as to whether Coles or Woolies have a better loyalty scheme or whether they prefer Aldi or even IGA because it is just up the corner.
As always people with negative opinions are always more likely to voice them as compared to those with good or neutral opinions.
If I am doing a regular shop and their are no offers I will shop Coles or sometimes IGA unless Woollies has specials on items we would usually buy.
I dislike Aldi.Very few of the items we normally purchase.Fruit and veggies are cheaper but not impressed with quality and besides we prefer our local farmer's market so the money stays locally and the quality is much better.

Australians are big users of Social Media ddron.. Not sure where you decided that they weren't. not to mention those that weren't on social media complaining the old fashioned way at their local stores. There has been widespread condemnation of the new scheme from all angles. I'm still waiting for someone to show me an article or report that says the new scheme is better than the old one and better now than Fly Buys..

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Top notch post on the Woolworths Rewards Facebook Page yesterday.
Couldn't agree More:
https://www.facebook.com/WoolworthsRewards/posts/925469097544042

 

[drron]

Australians are big users of Social Media ddron.. Not sure where you decided that they weren't. not to mention those that weren't on social media complaining the old fashioned way at their local stores. There has been widespread condemnation of the new scheme from all angles. I'm still waiting for someone to show me an article or report that says the new scheme is better than the old one and better now than Fly Buys..

Because of reports such as this-
https://www.sensis.com.au/assets/PDFdirectory/Sensis_Social_Media_Report_2015.pdf

There is still not a majority of Australians using social media every day.
I use social media every day as it is broadly defined.That includes FB about twice a month,Twitter twice a year and never LinkedIn,Pinterest,Instagram etc.

Now in the 18-29 age group the figure for everyday use is 79%.So if you are in that age group I understand why you think every one uses social media.
Also how many regular users of social media check the WW or Coles social media sites?
Down in the body of that report there is a figure of 20% of social media users who follow brands for offers or promotions.No where near to a majority of Australians-and remember this is a thread about WW.Only 11% use social media to write reviews/blogs about products they have bought.

So I still maintain the Woollies social media sites do not give a true reflection of the feelings of the majority of Australians.

 

[Himeno]

Not really. Base it on the old scheme.. you spend money you earned a reward (QFF points).

And not everyone was earning QFF points from EDR. You only did so if you linked a QFF account to the EDR account. Those who didn't link a QFF account were still earning "points" and were getting woolworths vouchers and gift cards sent out.

 

[whatmeworry]

I'm not overly fussed on this notion of Australian V imported food, as the cost of doing business in relation to food manufacturing in Australia is horrendous.

However the Argument that Woolies is the 'home' for Australian made is simply not true.

Next time your in local Woolies take a look at all the Woolworths home brand Confectionery!
It's all imported !
A few years ago Woolies sourced all private label confectionery from Australia.
Then go down the Canned Vegetable aisle and just about the entire Homebrand & Select product range is imported too!
I haven't even mentioned the Frozen Food Aisle yet.
Take a look at the country of origin in an Aldi Store for the above categories and the results are literally the opposite.

The select tuna comes from Thailand, like most Tuna sold in Australia. The Select canned tomato comes from Italy. Seafood from Thailand sold in Coles and WW has recently been to found to be using indentured labour, while Italy has been dumping canned tomatoes on Australia.

If I see food from China, I will not buy.

The greatest flaw of the WW Itchy and Scratchy money, is the savings are not instantaneously. Why should I want Itchy and Scratchy money when I can actually save money at Coles, Aldi et al.

 

[Himeno]

teething problems? I think it was there intention all along - bump up the price to cover the cost of the "reward" but they got caught out.

Exactly. It was mentioned that the QFF link was costing WoW ~$80 million/year. Then it was mentioned the new program would cost ~$500 million, while also stating that they wouldn't be asking suppliers to cover part of it. The money to pay for the program has to come from somewhere.

So have you priced whether said item is actually cheaper at say Coles? We know it will be cheaper at Aldi, so taking into account at Coles you'll always earn flybuys, and it's cheaper (plenty of cases where this is fact).

The thing with Aldi is that the bulk of their products are equal to the no name, black and gold, WoW Homebrand, Coles Smart Buy private label products. However, because the packaging of the Aldi products look more "brand like", people assume they are a match for the WoW Select type products.

it was a detrimental change - no other way to describe it. Sure some people got targeted offers so it appears to them they are doing better, but what happens when those offers dries up?

They'd have to "dry up". The only reason so many offers have been getting sent out in the last month or so is because it has been part of the program launch and they have been trying to get all program members to earn at least one $10 save. The amount of targeted offers simply can't last, they can't justify the cost of keeping so many offers out. Expect the rate of targeted offers to drop, soon. (The increase of staff discount to 10% was also part of the program launch. That dropped back to 5% yesterday.)

 

[rainbowgirl]

And not everyone was earning QFF points from EDR. You only did so if you linked a QFF account to the EDR account. Those who didn't link a QFF account were still earning "points" and were getting woolworths vouchers and gift cards sent out.

Really!!! My understanding was that the only way to get the gift cards was to join QFF and opt into the Auto Rewards program for the points to be converted to gift cards.

I've heard lots of people complain that they weren't getting points because they didn't link to QFF. They also complained of not receiving rewards from the old program. Obviously they hadn't been reading their receipts over $30 which had a notation along the lines of "you could have earnt X amount of points if you were a QFF member".

 

[Himeno]

Why would they drop off? QFF bonus offerings never stopped.

Because someone has to pay for them. They won't stop. There will be fewer of them.

 

[Dr Ralph]

The greatest flaw of the WW Itchy and Scratchy money, is the savings are not instantaneously. Why should I want Itchy and Scratchy money when I can actually save money at Coles, Aldi et al.

If you're talking about Woolworths dollars some of the savings are instant. That's one of the features that makes them more attractive than QFF points which may never have been redeemed.

 

[nlagalle]

If you're talking about Woolworths dollars some of the savings are instant. That's one of the features that makes them more attractive than QFF points which may never have been redeemed.

What you fail to mention is you need to be able to EARN those "dollars" first.. if you don't get any bonus offers then you are stuck with those orange stickers.. At least on the old scheme you still earned points over $30. And at Big W and at Cellarmasters. What do you earn there now??

 

[JessicaTam]

Why would they drop off? QFF bonus offerings never stopped.

Well for me (sample size 1) the EDR offers did effectively stop. So I started taking my spend elsewhere with an occasional WW spend to try to trigger an offer.

I can't see the current spate of offers continuing for very long.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

However the Argument that Woolies is the 'home' for Australian made is simply not true.

I don't think anyone said Coles and Wollies are the 'home' of Aussie made... but if i want aussie products like SPC or Dick Smith (and whole range of smaller producers), I need to go to Coles or Woollies to buy them.

 

[nlagalle]

Well for me (sample size 1) the EDR offers did effectively stop. So I started taking my spend elsewhere with an occasional WW spend to try to trigger an offer.

I can't see the current spate of offers continuing for very long.

Mine stopped too, as did many others I know.. I am sure it was discussed here as well

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Because of reports such as this-
https://www.sensis.com.au/assets/PDFdirectory/Sensis_Social_Media_Report_2015.pdf

There is still not a majority of Australians using social media every day.
I use social media every day as it is broadly defined.That includes FB about twice a month,Twitter twice a year and never LinkedIn,Pinterest,Instagram etc.

Now in the 18-29 age group the figure for everyday use is 79%.So if you are in that age group I understand why you think every one uses social media.
Also how many regular users of social media check the WW or Coles social media sites?
Down in the body of that report there is a figure of 20% of social media users who follow brands for offers or promotions.No where near to a majority of Australians-and remember this is a thread about WW.Only 11% use social media to write reviews/blogs about products they have bought.

So I still maintain the Woollies social media sites do not give a true reflection of the feelings of the majority of Australians.

You don't need to follow a page to make a complaint via social media. You also don't need to review products in order to make a complaint. That article actually proves the point that most Australians do use social media regularly

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

I don't think anyone said Coles and Wollies are the 'home' of Aussie made... but if i want aussie products like SPC or Dick Smith (and whole range of smaller producers), I need to go to Coles or Woollies to buy them.

I think you need to look at the back of the label for SPC branded products ( Now owned by Coca Cola) as they Import many of their products too nowadays.

 

[whatmeworry]

If you're talking about Woolworths dollars some of the savings are instant. That's one of the features that makes them more attractive than QFF points which may never have been redeemed.

No EDR had instant savings and you still earnt QFF.

 

[Dr Ralph]

No EDR had instant savings and you still earnt QFF.

I never claimed that it did.

I did state that the new scheme offers instant rewards and this is an advantage.

 

[whatmeworry]

I never claimed that it did.

I did state that the new scheme offers instant rewards and this is an advantage.

Which EDR already had.

 

[medhead]

AS nlagalle says.

I have had several of the $10 etc extra offers and used exactly non of them as they were trying to push me in their direction not my direction.

That's pretty funny. We've had a number of instant $10 offers with no requirement to purchase any particular item or product. Just did our normal shop. Well we did double up by splitting the shop to trigger the target amount twice and get double discount.

Peso is commonly used to describe a poor currency, which is what the new WW dollars are... WW are trying to dictate what you should buy (buy token of the orange labels). If it was a proper scheme you'd earn on ALL purchases. But WW decides what you will earn on. If you believe otherwise you are really gullible.

Why should I have to wait? I shop every week, so now I voted with my feet and shop elsewhere. Shopping at Aldi the savings are instant.. Coles, well flybuys earns at better rates than WW Pesos too..

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at your statement. If you really think the scheme is so good, why did WW bring in a half baked FF solution? You really think the program is that good? c'mon who are you kidding here....

Strange. The WWR$ I've go translated directly to A$. We could debate whether we're being taken back down the banana republic pathway, but the A$ is a pretty good currency still. Oh and did I mention the instantaneous bit for the targeted discounts. No waiting.