Woolworths reviewing partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyer.

[greenfish]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

My (potential) groceries points earn is so completely dwarfed by my credit card earn, only the periodic 500 / 750 / 1000 point bonus offers actually drag me into Woolworths. At least around me the Woolworths fruit and veg is terrible + I can walk to Coles.

Do wish I could convert my Flybuys to Velocity though.

 

[grussellt]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

I hope Woolworths learned something from the exodus of credit card customers following their change to Macquarie. Lower food prices may not be too easy to spot but a lack of QF points will. Perhaps they could start handing out AAdvantage miles. Now that would be an enhancement.

 

[straitman]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

I'm obviously in a minority of 1

I'd continue shopping at Woollies since our local is far superior to Coles AND I can still buy brands at Woollies that Coles has long stopped stocking.

Regards,

BD

Maybe not really a minority of 1 just that we all have different trigger points and situations. In my case Coles and Woollies are at opposite ends of a medium shopping plaza. Currently we use Woollies mostly and Coles to a lesser degree because of the FF points. If Woollies and QF part we would probably reverse our patterns as Coles is actually a slightly better shop.

Once we finish moving to Traralgon it would become a no brainer as Coles is part of the major complex and Woollies is a km away all by itself.

 

[BD1959]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

Maybe not really a minority of 1 just that we all have different trigger points and situations. In my case Coles and Woollies are at opposite ends of a medium shopping plaza. Currently we use Woollies mostly and Coles to a lesser degree because of the FF points. If Woollies and QF part we would probably reverse our patterns as Coles is actually a slightly better shop.

Once we finish moving to Traralgon it would become a no brainer as Coles is part of the major complex and Woollies is a km away all by itself.

Maybe I just live in an area of excessive "dodgy Coles" aka ex Bi-Lo stores ... !!

Regards,

BD

 

[romney]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

Will probably be back to Coles for us too, or more spend at our local Foodland. Woolies is the furthest away for us.

 

[rob066]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

This will be a blow to WOW. The Everyday Rewards program with QF is unique, and def the only reason I show at WOW. Great way to double dip via paying with credit cards (e.g. Amex) linked to QF.

 

[deka2]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

Our shop at Supermarkets has been getting less and less each year, partly helped by children leaving home and partly by trying to source better quality food.

If WOW leave Qantas we will go back to Coles.

 

[wandering_fred]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

I'll have to admit the fuel discount is more attractive at WW than the QF points. But nevertheless quite happy to take them (and the occasional bonus point offer).
Perhaps the outcome will be a more thorough reading of the weekly sales offers from all three groceries (WW/Coles/IGA) ending up in a further splitting of the food purchase money.

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[chelzmalee]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

The bonus points got me in the door. I'll probably head back to Coles or Aldi now.

 

[eastwest101]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

As others have commented on - seems to be a bit of posturing and negotiation tactics playing out in the media. But it is interesting to note the background of both companies at the moment:

Woolworths - has had board ructions, taken major losses on its Masters hardware chain and divested itself of Dick Smith Electronics at exactly the wrong time, they face a resurgent opponent in Coles and Aldi starting to eat their lunch in major cities and fuel retailing going into low crude oil prices. As others have said - their EDR credit cards got changed from HSBC to Macquarie and enhanced in the process leading to mass cancellations of accounts. And this is all in the background of Qantas getting money for the QFF points given to WOW customers in a patchwork economy where many parts of Australia are going into recession and some local areas of Sydney and Melbourne going through a real estate boom. So you have to put yourself in the shoes of the bosses at Woolworths and start to think about squeezing all your suppliers for better value - as far as they are concerned - Qantas is just another supplier - of intangible and increasingly worthless QFF points vs the perceived customer drawcard of getting the points. All with the surprise package that the previously lacklustre FlyBuys scheme has now got a big airline involved with Woolworths main competitor Coles.

Qantas - has a different story from its near death experience and after asking the government for help, has finally slashed costs and cut capacity, tried to re-engage with their demoralized workforce and thanks to large write downs, redundancies, a competitor that was unable to capitalise on QF's mistakes and a very kind price of fuel has returned to some sort of profitability. Business travel is flat and with the falling AUD outbound tourism is doing it very tough with discretionary spending very low, this must be hurting JQd and JQi but its difficult to tell by how much. Their own QFF scheme has been such a success over the years that they have a wide market penetration but with its array of enhancements and punishing OW flyers gradual withdrawal from the OneWorld alliance and so has a reputation of being one of the poorest value least accessible and highes surcharging frequent flyer schemes around, to the point where a lot of people are exploring other loyalty scheme options/alliances in locations where airlines are trying to obtain high value customers. So Qantas has to sit down and work out if withdrawal from the Woolworths retail ecosystem will present them with the market perception that QFF points are becoming either 'niche' or irrelevant (or a defacto toaster currency).

 

[farstar]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

I wonder if Woolies with rethink splitting from QFF now that Flybys is linked to Etihad.

 

[burmans]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

AUD outbound tourism is doing it very tough with discretionary spending very low, this must be hurting JQd and JQi but its difficult to tell by how much.

Swings and roundabouts surely, outbound tourism may well be down but inbound tourism is back on the up after many lean years!

 

[greenfish]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

I wonder if Woolies with rethink splitting from QFF now that Flybys is linked to Etihad.

Or failing that, devalue to say, 0.4 points per $

Having said that, the $30 threshold on QF point earn makes my smaller shops almost worthless, unlike Flybuys

 

[eastwest101]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

Swings and roundabouts surely, outbound tourism may well be down but inbound tourism is back on the up after many lean years!

While I agree the depreciation in the AUD has helped tourism, the question about inbound tourism is from where? Europe - most economies dead/moribund, USA - recovering slowly, China - bursting real estate bubble and government crackdowns on corruption, Japan - still dead, Middle East - low oil price crunch, India Malaysia and South Korea - all have promise but QF doesn't fly there, other parts of SE Asia - recovering but tonnes of LCC competitors in the area and too much capacity already.

 

[gwynne]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

I live at Bronte and have shopped at Woolies for most of the last 15 years because they've always been the best store in whichever locality I was in at the time (Campbelltown, Balmain, St Leonards, Marrickville). The added QFF was a bonus when it started. I moved to Bronte 2 years ago and Woolies at Bondi Junction continued to be the store of choice.

The Coles store at Bondi Junction was refurbished 6 months ago. It is now a 5-star supermarket. By comparison the Woolworths store is showing all of its 10+year age. We've been using Coles for probably the last 4 months despite the QFF points at Woolies. Last three weeks we've stopped using Lite n Easy though so our shop has increased significantly again from $50-75 up to $200 bringing the points back into it. We've done 2 of the 3 big shops at the new Double Bay Woolworths which is also 5-star solely because of the points.

Its a 10-minute drive to BJ, a 15-20 minute drive to Double Bay. If Woolies drop the points I no longer make the trip.

 

[woodborer]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

Its a 10-minute drive to BJ, a 15-20 minute drive to Double Bay. If Woolies drop the points I no longer make the trip.

The number of people saying this proves one thing. The Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme is nothing to do with loyalty.

 

[gwynne]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

The number of people saying this proves one thing. The Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme is nothing to do with loyalty.

It is loyalty to Qantas. Not necessarily profitable loyalty though they seem to be getting the better end of most of these partnerships. Points aren't Qantas tool of loyalty anymore though. That's status credits. Points are just an alternative currency. The number one thing I look for when booking a flight is status earning opportunities with Qantas. Points on top are a bonus.

On another note I forgot to add all of the Caltex Woolies in the Eastern Suburbs surcharging 2.5% on my Amex makes the discount pointless so I look forward to using the Shell with a discount and earning some Etihad status (with Qantas points on the payment card).

 

[andye]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

It is loyalty to Qantas. Not necessarily profitable loyalty though they seem to be getting the better end of most of these partnerships. Points aren't Qantas tool of loyalty anymore though. That's status credits. Points are just an alternative currency. The number one thing I look for when booking a flight is status earning opportunities with Qantas. Points on top are a bonus.

On another note I forgot to add all of the Caltex Woolies in the Eastern Suburbs surcharging 2.5% on my Amex makes the discount pointless so I look forward to using the Shell with a discount and earning some Etihad status (with Qantas points on the payment card).

Will the Caltex woolies not take a WISH card bought in WW?

 

[woodborer]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

It is loyalty to Qantas. Not necessarily profitable loyalty though they seem to be getting the better end of most of these partnerships. Points aren't Qantas tool of loyalty anymore though. That's status credits. Points are just an alternative currency. The number one thing I look for when booking a flight is status earning opportunities with Qantas. Points on top are a bonus.

Why should Woolworths care? And how much does the average Woolworths shopper care? Woolworths want to get some data about your shopping behaviour. Giving you points makes you swipe your card. They will replace it with something else - something that will encourage you to swipe a card. Wouldn't it be better to wait and see what that something else is, before having dummy spits, temper tantrums and so on?

 

[gwynne]

Re: Woolworths rethinking Qantas - or a slow news day

Hadn't thought about that. Good point but convenience still stands.