Woolworths reviewing partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyer.

[psi999]

With all this talk of ditching WoW (for greener pastures) and assuming most here purchase 5% off wish gift cards via cash rewards or motor clubs (expert level tight-coughs), can a similar 5% discount also be found for Coles and Myer gift cards?

If not the weekly shop just got a whole lot more expensive...

 

[SIA1A]

I would have to say the new wow program is definitly simpler and for the masses fairer

I don't see it as at all simpler. It is not at all clear as to how WW Dollars will be earned. We are told that these will be displayed on orange tickets next to the relevant WW Dollars-earning products. One can imagine that the earn will be higher, percentage wise, for higher margin (generally house-brand) products while non-house staples could well earn nothing. The earn won't be directly related to the dollars spent by the consumer. Confusing.

So given that the scheme will push customers towards house brands and one-off specials, I don't regard that as fairer for the masses either. Expect plenty of WW Dollars incentives to spend up big on discretionary items like soft drinks, potato crisps and chocolate but not on quality food items and branded essentials.

Of course the WW Dollars can only be spent in-store so the money stays with WW, whereas QF points can be spent with a myriad of retailers. That's hardly fair either.

 

[whatmeworry]

Unless the discounts at WW are massive with the new program, I won't be going out of way for Woolies.

I already have been reducing my spend at Big W, Cellarmasters and BWS. I will now be redirecting more of my spend to Coles, Liquorland/First Choice/Dan Murphy’s and Kmart.

In hindsight with QF offering free QFF membership via other means then EDR and WW experimenting with discounts this change has been coming for at least a year.

 

[Himeno]

The Woolworths Dollars will be based on items with tickets much like the current orange "scan your card for extra discount" tickets and selected items you get emailed.

All the docs I have seen about this show to anyone who actually lives in the real world (ie, not those idiots at WoW head office) that this change will lead to more annoyed customers and less overall shop.
This is even worse then the current EDR program. Even if someone didn't have a linked QFF account, they still got discounts out of the Woolworths points.

 

[exceladdict]

I'm very unhappy about this, albeit something that a player in a duopoly could be expected to do (cut costs and not mind they piss off a few customers along the way). I doubt they genuinely think this will make more customers happy. It's a disguised cost cutting exercise.

The timing of the Coles and Etihad announcement was just fantastic and will certainly drive people to both companies. Etihad and or Coles must have had a tip off; that announcement did seem rushed and I'm hoping there is more to come.

Until last week, I was pondering how I would rationalise not diverting my shopping to aldi, who are soon opening in WA, as I wanted to convince myself the more expensive Woolworths would be worth the QF points.

That decision, depending on the location of aldis stores of course, now seems to be made for me.

RedRoo, if your team would like to interview a group of regular shoppers, willing to change their spend based on reward systems (ie the exact group Coles will win with Fb program changes), I'm sure there will be plenty here that will volunteer

 

[Archphoto]

So the "average" shopper really wants $$$ off their weekly spend, rather than FF points, according to their FAQs.
Why not offer the option to choose: $$$ Off or FF Points, or would that simply be too much trouble to have even been considered?

Why are you removing Qantas Points?

We asked members what they really want from a rewards program, and the answer was clear — money off their shopping. So, we changed points for Woolworths Dollars.

Strangely, I don't remember being asked my preference or take at any stage on this. Did any other AFF members do a survey that hinted at this possibly taking place?

 

[trippin_the_rift]

We asked members what they really want from a rewards program, and the answer was clear — money off their shopping. So, we changed points for Woolworths Dollars.

I call BS.... but here's my thinking:

1) If shoppers prefer discounts over QFF points why was there even a tie-up in the first place (didn't woolworths do their homework before entering into a $100m+ deal?)
2) When you ask people point blank what they want in a product, 99% of the population can't accurately articulate and analyse their own thought process. If Apple had asked people what they want in a phone back in 2005, the answer would be 'more memory, more menu options'. It takes a visionary to read between the lines and you can't get this from asking straight up questions like Woolworths is implying, which means they didn't do their homework.
3) Assuming homework has been completed - Woolworths new program would need to have a lower cost base than the QFF alternate, which means there will be less rewarding compared to what QFF points would have cost (factoring in breakage etc..) This means it will be less rewarding for consumers.
4) The beauty of QFF points was that it's an aspirational, subjective reward. Those 25,000 points could mean a $200 voucher or a $2000 flight upgrade depending how you viewed it. The new Woolies program is nothing more than a discount program. No aspirations, no subjective value. No gamification and therefore no long term loyalty/stickiness.
5) Why call it Woolworths Dollars? I'll get over the unimaginative name for a second which any primary school kid could dream up. Using the word dollars instantly locks down the value and creates no room to grow the program into anything more later on. People will link $1 AUD to $1 WWD and means devaluing the currency at any point in the future will make the conversion difficult for many.
6) There will be a portion% of people who don't shop at Woolworths any longer and another % that will change spending patterns to be under $30 (thus messing with average basket size and a bunch of other metrics)
7) The move may attract more low value customers to the brand who are seeking discounts rather than points (Aldi strategy?)
8) Keeping a QFF option to satisfy that market segment seems logical. Terminating entirely suggests some type of commercial conflict or some new thinking none of us can fathom
9) Not delaying the changes after the Flybuys/Etihad deal to re-evaluate..? Or was it? Hard to tell.
10) I doubt we'll see any major (20%+) shift in numbers, but if we did - this would directly affect product placement revenue for Woolies.
11) With more affluent customers who fly and driven by miles shifting to Coles - this adds value to flybuys program, thus hurting other Woolies owned businesses in the process.
12) Potentially now shines more light on Etihad... double loss to QF.
..Lots more... too tired to list it all out.

So either Woolworths has totally failed to have understanding of the loyalty business (which will cost them big bucks, market share, wasted resources, overhead of running the program, additional manpower for customer service etc..) - or the statement about customers wanting this all lies.

AND/OR

QFF didn't bring out the big guns to prove how moving away from QFF as an inducement/data partnerships/knowledge sharing would ultimately cost woolworths even more. Fortunately there is available data for QFF to gauge the impact and re-engage WOW.

AND/OR

QFF wanted better terms, higher point cost or some type of commercial conflict

Either way it's a mess. I don't see much positive coming from this change in the near future.

 

[JohnPhelan]

So the "average" shopper really wants $$$ off their weekly spend, rather than FF points, according to their FAQs.
Why not offer the option to choose: $$$ Off or FF Points, or would that simply be too much trouble to have even been considered?

Why are you removing Qantas Points?

We asked members what they really want from a rewards program, and the answer was clear — money off their shopping. So, we changed points for Woolworths Dollars.

Strangely, I don't remember being asked my preference or take at any stage on this. Did any other AFF members do a survey that hinted at this possibly taking place?

In a word - no.

 

[Himeno]

The FAQs on that site are the same as in the docs they sent out to stores during the week.
I was not asked, no one I know was asked. This seams to be a case of ask 10 people who our data shows will agree with this change and claim this is what customers want. I'm inclined to contact them through internal channels and tell them off, but given what I normally get back when I contact someone in head office, I'll never get a reply.
Keep in mind that these are people who don't appear to understand the difference between a Google Account and G+. They think that G+ is the account.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Strangely, I don't remember being asked my preference or take at any stage on this. Did any other AFF members do a survey that hinted at this possibly taking place?

Up until a year ago I was doing ~100K/year points with Woolworths. Given the types of offers they sent me I have no faith that the data they're basing this on is accurate.

 

[Himeno]

Up until a year ago I was doing ~100K/year points with Woolworths. Given the types of offers they sent me I have no faith that the data they're basing this on is accurate.

I never once got a extra offer for something which wasn't on special that week anyway. Don't know if that's because my EDR card is a staff card, but the only offers I ever got emailed were for things that were already on special (and even then, only 40% of the items they highlighted where things I would buy). I never got any sort of vouchers mailed to me as others have reported.

 

[drron]

My shopping isn't going to change very much.If there was a special on at either I would shop at that store as discount always worth more than the points either EDR or FB.
If one had better fruit,veggies or meat I would shop at that store.Sometimes either Coles or Woollies will stock something I want that the other doesn't-eg Coles stock Weet Bix bites apricot flavour which until very recently Woollies didn't.
Coles already get a fair bit of my business as I spend time in Tassie but also I get regular offers from them.Hardly any substantial EDR offers.With FB I know exactly the value of the points I was earning.Not so with EDR and QFF points.I value QFF points at 2 cents-we only use them for J-F upgrades.The 2 cents value is what I may pay for the upgrade.You could value them as the difference in J to F fares-but then that is why we put in for upgrades as we wouldn't pay the F fare.
So now it will be much simpler to see the value for each program which will undoubtedly will be fairer for most non AFF Woollies shoppers.

 

[cmon0005]

Got an email from Woolworths confirming change to Woolworths rewards and no more points, but existing members can still earn points till end of the year. Very underwhelming email!

 

[grussellt]

This article seems to suggest that an expenditure of about $750 at Woolies will get us a reward of $10 to spend at our leisure. Assuming that's about seven shops (figures in article) then I will now forgo 500 points. I'm afraid that's not a good deal for me.
No Cookies | dailytelegraph.com.au

 

[zig]

So the "average" shopper really wants $$$ off their weekly spend, rather than FF points, according to their FAQs.
Why not offer the option to choose: $$$ Off or FF Points, or would that simply be too much trouble to have even been considered?

Why are you removing Qantas Points?

We asked members what they really want from a rewards program, and the answer was clear — money off their shopping. So, we changed points for Woolworths Dollars.

Strangely, I don't remember being asked my preference or take at any stage on this. Did any other AFF members do a survey that hinted at this possibly taking place?

Exactly my thought when I read this FAQ - who the heck did they ask??? It certainly wasn't me.

 

[snabbu]

If there was an option to take the QF points at a higher rate it would probably keep me interested in WW however with the cord being completely severed it will be hello Coles/IGA for the first time in years. Will still keep an eye on WW specials via the catalog but will certainly look around from 31st December.

 

[Mattg]

Just got the email. Pretty much what we expected, but very underwhelming. I've trawled through the FAQ on the Woolworths Rewards website and can't even find any info about the rate at which points will be earned. That's one of the most important things when considering the value in a loyalty program!!

I won't be shopping at Woolworths after 31 December. Instead, I think I'll spread the love between Coles and Aldi.

Oh, and in case anyone from Woolies see this, I just did this:

 

[Mattg]

Exactly my thought when I read this FAQ - who the heck did they ask??? It certainly wasn't me.

Me neither...

 

[Princess Fiona]

Just got the email. Pretty much what we expected, but very underwhelming. I've trawled through the FAQ on the Woolworths Rewards website and can't even find any info about the rate at which points will be earned. That's one of the most important things when considering the value in a loyalty program!!

I won't be shopping at Woolworths after 31 December. Instead, I think I'll spread the love between Coles and Aldi.

Oh, and in case anyone from Woolies see this, I just did this:

View attachment 58511

Same, and linked my EY account. Bye Woolies, was fun while it lasted

 

[Warks]

Funny how that email the other day to dispel rumours was so quickly followed up by this new email confirming them.

Woolworths and Qantas Frequent Flyer have been in partnership for more than six years. We are working together to ensure how, as a loyal member of Qantas Frequent Flyer and a Woolworths shopper, you will continue to get the best value from the rewards program.

They forgot to add "until 31 December 2015."

Costco anyone?