Woolworths reviewing partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyer.

[Moopere]

Its interesting that QFF priced themselves out of WOW. The cost of the scheme obviously didn't bring enough trade.

I'm not sure about that. For one, if it were just QFF pricing themselves too highly why wouldn't Woolies have approached VFF? Seems the logical choice. Good redemptions there and presumably a competitive rate for the sort of massive bulk monthly purchases that woolies would be making.

My own thought is that they just want to push things as far as they can and see what happens. If punters leave in droves they'd dream up another scheme - but if nothing substantially changes, customer spend/numbers wise then they've doubtless had a big win.

I don't know, but my strong suspicion is that it will be the product vendors who are paying for the Woolworths Dollars, not woolies directly.

 

[zoomzoom]

Yes its more complex than cheap oil for WOW. Just watch QF when oil goes up and they eventually have to take the same sort of write off hit on the 380 that they took on the old tired inappropriate 747 fleet. Glad I don't fly QF much. The 777 and 787 of competitors are far more comfortable and generally better value.

 

[eastwest101]

I'm not sure about that. For one, if it were just QFF pricing themselves too highly why wouldn't Woolies have approached VFF? Seems the logical choice. Good redemptions there and presumably a competitive rate for the sort of massive bulk monthly purchases that woolies would be making.

I think I'd have to agree with that theory somewhat, sure maybe QFF were possibly a little bit inflexible or possibly weren't prepared to drop the 'cost' of the QFF points enough to satisfy the Woolworths negotiation team. I can't see why WOW wouldn't have approached Virgin/Velocity or possibly even FlyBuys to at least explore their options or use as leverage against QFF.

From outsiders perspective it looks like none of this happened, so we can only assume that Woolworths believed that their own new scheme would be more acceptable to the public. Anyway - will be interesting to see the next few months like-for-like sales figures from Woolworths and Coles to see if the loss of the QFF points scheme has had any major effect or not.

 

[zoomzoom]

No FF points at WOW won't impact the average shopper, they can't earn enough for it to be worthwhile and there was a $30 hurdle. Plus QF don't make enough flights available for it to be a big incentive. The simple Coles scheme, points on everything plus bonus points and convert to cash discount on next weeks shopping has far more appeal, plus they now have an airline deal for the hard core flyers reading this site. Winner Coles,

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

The problem with Woolies is that they failed to leverage enough from their relationship with Qantas.
Woolies sat on their hands during the last 18 months in terms of promoting the ability to earn Qantas Points.
A revolving door of management in the Woolies buying & marketing department hasn't helped due to some serious and cringe-worthy marketing campaigns that has resulted In a loss of focus. ( Ie: The disastrous "cheap,cheap" campaign)

Woolies could have utilised the relationship with Qantas better, such as more targeted promotions like Coles does with its flyby's program that really aim for incremental sales growth.
It's worth noting when Woolies did go hard 2-3 years ago with regards to Targeted promotions with Qantas Points they were keeping their heads above water in terms of sales growth.

The real test for Woolies will be the sales results in the new calendar year.....I predict that Woolworths Rewards won't be the silver bullet they were hoping for.

 

[RAM]

The problem with Woolies is that they failed to leverage enough from their relationship with Qantas.
Woolies sat on their hands during the last 18 months in terms of promoting the ability to earn Qantas Points.
A revolving door of management in the Woolies buying & marketing department hasn't helped due to some serious and cringe-worthy marketing campaigns that has resulted In a loss of focus. ( Ie: The disastrous "cheap,cheap" campaign)

Woolies could have utilised the relationship with Qantas better, such as more targeted promotions like Coles does with its flyby's program that really aim for incremental sales growth.
It's worth noting when Woolies did go hard 2-3 years ago with regards to Targeted promotions with Qantas Points they were keeping their heads above water in terms of sales growth.

The real test for Woolies will be the sales results in the new calendar year.....I predict that Woolworths Rewards won't be the silver bullet they were hoping for.

Or perhaps have the effect of another type of silver bullet - fatal...

 

[zzyss]

The real test for Woolies will be the sales results in the new calendar year.....I predict that Woolworths Rewards won't be the silver bullet they were hoping for.

It's not just Woolworths Rewards. They're really making a lot of drastic changes... e.g. the Woolworths Group branded gift cards can no longer be used across all Woolies Group members. The recent Big W promo exposed that when a bunch of OzBargainers who thought they could just buy them to use to pay for Petrol at Caltex, grog from Dan Murphy's, etc. discovered that it can only be spent at Big W.

Although being the industrious fellows that they are, soon discovered the loophole of being able to buy physical Wish gift cards...

But yeah. Everything that made Woolies a point of difference (and preference) for me - QFF, flexible gift cards - has effectively been cancelled.

 

[RAM]

It's not just Woolworths Rewards. They're really making a lot of drastic changes... e.g. the Woolworths Group branded gift cards can no longer be used across all Woolies Group members. The recent Big W promo exposed that when a bunch of OzBargainers who thought they could just buy them to use to pay for Petrol at Caltex, grog from Dan Murphy's, etc. discovered that it can only be spent at Big W.

Although being the industrious fellows that they are, soon discovered the loophole of being able to buy physical Wish gift cards...

But yeah. Everything that made Woolies a point of difference (and preference) for me - QFF, flexible gift cards - has effectively been cancelled.

and have people noticed that Dick Smith was quietly removed from the physical cards list of stores you can redeem at?

Seems to have happened around Aug/Sep 2015.

Most annoying as I bought a few hundred dollars worth of up to 95% off items there yesterday and couldn't use my WoW cards. only when I got home later did I notice the Coles offer this week for "buy $50 Dick Smith gift card and get bonus $10 value".

Still I suppose I cannot complain too much (bad blood WoW!) as I saved near $1,200.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Fairly sure Dick Smith stopped participating a long time ago.

 

[zzyss]

Fairly sure Dick Smith stopped participating a long time ago.

Yeah, they probably also stopped being part of Everyday Rewards and paying QFF points around the same time too?

 

[RAM]

With the 10% off Travel Centre gift cards it actually ends up being 10.225% off after all the adds/subtracts etc:



Just got to love those VFF and QFF points.

Purchased egift cards with Velocity Platinum Amex so nearly 13,000 VFF points.

Then when I buy the FC cards at WoW I swipe the EDR card and get around 12,000 QFF points.

Why only around 12K?

Redeeming egift cards has a twist and you cannot redeem multiple in one transaction (or so they swore and after 45 minutes recently that was the outcome).

So will need to do 30 transactions (no queuing behind me...) to get the FC cards as largest denomination of egift (that corresponds to $150 Face Value but notional WoW cost of $141.75) is $425.25 (must be no more than $500 unfortunately.

Fun, fun, fun!

Already sounded out FC agent and she's ready for 90 cards to be entered (rejoinder - "Happy to see you anytime just not within an hour of closing!")

BTW I raided several WoW stores yesterday and stocked up on the $150 FC cards ready to roll.

Limit if 10 cards per transaction but no limit on number of transactions in T&Cs.

Some WoW stores do not stock the $150 so shop around.

Does this mean after tomorrow I can claim bragging rights for nearly $13,000 spending at WoW and NOT ONE PESO for it?

 

[JessicaTam]

With the 10% off Travel Centre gift cards it actually ends up being 10.225% off after all the adds/subtracts etc:

View attachment 59826

Just got to love those VFF and QFF points.

Purchased egift cards with Velocity Platinum Amex so nearly 13,000 VFF points.

Then when I buy the FC cards at WoW I swipe the EDR card and get around 12,000 QFF points.

Why only around 12K?

Redeeming egift cards has a twist and you cannot redeem multiple in one transaction (or so they swore and after 45 minutes recently that was the outcome).

So will need to do 30 transactions (no queuing behind me...) to get the FC cards as largest denomination of egift (that corresponds to $150 Face Value but notional WoW cost of $141.75) is $425.25 (must be no more than $500 unfortunately.

Fun, fun, fun!

Already sounded out FC agent and she's ready for 90 cards to be entered (rejoinder - "Happy to see you anytime just not within an hour of closing!")

BTW I raided several WoW stores yesterday and stocked up on the $150 FC cards ready to roll.

Limit if 10 cards per transaction but no limit on number of transactions in T&Cs.

Some WoW stores do not stock the $150 so shop around.

Does this mean after tomorrow I can claim bragging rights for nearly $13,000 spending at WoW and NOT ONE PESO for it?

Getting a bit OT, but I redeemed 4x $500 eGift cards a few months ago when I bought $2000 worth of Myer gift cards. All in the one transaction.

 

[andye]

Great dedication to the cause. Plat Edge could have added about 33K more VF points to your impressive haul.
I've found the selfservice will take multiple egift

 

[RAM]

Getting a bit OT, but I redeemed 4x $500 eGift cards a few months ago when I bought $2000 worth of Myer gift cards. All in the one transaction.

Where was that? WoW?

 

[JessicaTam]

Where was that? WoW?

My local Woolies.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Rcvd email today saying Statement available for download - cannot remember last time I looked at a Statement as I never use the card - so I tried to Login to check - had about 5 or 6 tries but NFI what Username / Password combo is - best cancel it.

So I call up and Annual Fee levied yesterday - please reverse and cancel - all done in 2 mins.

 

[rainbowgirl]

Don't like: Woolworths Rewards card fails the social media test

Interesting article and comments above.

Woolworths took way too long to introduce the targeted offers side of the program. For us, it wasn't worth shopping with them much during the first month.

 

[zoomzoom]

WOW have lost the plot on this card. Its all about them and not about the customer. If you don't buy what they want you to buy its useless. The Coles card rewards every $ you spend, and provides quick easily accessed benefits.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Don't like: Woolworths Rewards card fails the social media test

Interesting article and comments above.

Woolworths took way too long to introduce the targeted offers side of the program. For us, it wasn't worth shopping with them much during the first month.

Well done Michael Pascoe for writing that article.

The rage is continuing on the Woolworths Rewards Facebook page, I'm surprised that the negative feedback has continued for so long.

 

[Natalie_B]

The rage is continuing on the Woolworths Rewards Facebook page, I'm surprised that the negative feedback has continued for so long.

I often head over to the FB page to have a chuckle, in particular from those who are convinced their small number of points have now just disappeared. I've been so WW a few times since the change and have made sure I've kept my receipts to cross check with points posting.