Someone who had spent over $1k in a store had me tag along so he can redeem his points. He was surprised to learn that he had only $5 worth of points. Since the products in the store are rather pricey I'm sure he'd have saved a lot more than $5 if he had shopped elsewhere. Question is, are some of these customer reward programs worthless? Should we just opt to buy stuff wherever they sell them cheapest rather than be loyal to a store and pay more in the end while being deceived that you are earning points which you can redeem at some later date?
I am a member of a rewards program here in the Philippines. I only get a few points even if I purchased a lot. Sometimes, it's really sad when after all the months you spent collecting those points, you just get a meager reward or discount. So now, what I do is I only go to that store when I am sure that I will spend a lot of money. Otherwise, I just go to the store selling cheaper products.
I am from the UK, and have a rewards card for Tesco. I spend perhaps £30 a week in there, and get 30p worth of points each time. I only buy the cheapest brands, so I wouldn't get them cheaper anywhere else. I also get vouchers for the things that I buy most often sent to me, meaning that sometimes I can save a few extra pounds, and I also sometimes get vouchers for double rewards points, or extra points when I buy a certain item. Usually, at the end of the year, I will have around £40 worth of points from the various things I've done during the year, and I will then use that towards my Christmas shopping. You have the option of trading the vouchers in for other things as well, for example £2.50 of vouchers gets you a cinema ticket which would usually cost more than £8, so that's more than worth it, as you can effective get £160 worth of free things each year just from doing your shopping - and it doesn't take any time or effort. So I would say that it is always worth it.
It really depends. There are customer reward programs that are worth it and there are those that are not worth your time. You should always keep in mind that most of these programs are just fronts to lure new customers as well as to keep their established customers. When it comes to whether a program is worth it or not, it's up to the customer to decide by looking at the pros and cons of the program. The problem with a lot of customers these days is that just because there's the term "rewards" attached to a promotional program, they immediately bite into it without thinking much about it.
Some are and others are not. They exist to create repeat business and loyalty, often the vouchers and rewards are targeted to get people in store every week, so they are dated. I do not feel pressured to use them like this as it is not worth it, as the savings don't warrant a weekly shop, though they hope you will buy more. People are looking for instant discounts as well as loyalty points, not one or the other! Points instead of money off can be off putting now as more are offering vouchers with $5 off a $25 purchase, so people will get a bigger basket or cart. Many people have cards, I do, but don't always use them unless you are making a big purchase.
I love rewards programs! It is all about working out how to make them work best for you. Companies use them to encourage loyalty, so I have found that being disloyal gets the best results. Generally it seems if you keep spending more and more money at the place you collect points, they keep raising the bar to make you spend more and more. However, if you are disloyal they try to lower the bar to get you spending more with them. For example, with groceries you need more than one place with competing loyalty programs. Then you swap where you shop and they can see from your shopping list that you must be shopping elsewhere. Ignore the promotions and they will come crawling for your custom. That's been my experience so far.
I have been a member of several rewards programs in the past, but not exactly because I was impressed with the discounts or rewards, but rather the fact that there was some extra little bonus from time to time. The only place where I ever felt rewarded, was my local health food store, which offered 20% off various products to their faithful customers every second Tuesday of the month. Also, after spending over $100, one always received a $5 discount, which isn't much, but in my opinion, every little bit helps.
You have to read the fine print. There are some good ones, but there are some totally not worth it ones too. I prefer to just use a reward credit card most of the time. That way I get a few points no matter where I'm shopping. I have not really used any reward program for long except the punch card kind at coffee shops where you get a free drink after so many purchases. Those are totally worth it. But other than that, I have seen quite a few that are really only good if you are buying a lot of things there anyway.
S&R I believe has customer reward program since a friend of mine convince me to become a member so I could get free stuff later. He showed me a flat screen TV he got for free from the store. That should be worth, I just don't know how much he'd spent before it. He did use it as computer monitor though.
It just depends on the program. I have found that most are not worth it. I typically only use the ones that save you a little money on your purchase each time. The ones where you save up points for products usually take too long...I forget about them eventually.
It depends what the reward program is. The only one I really use is the Tesco Clubcard. You get 1 point for every £1 you spend. Each point is worth a penny. You can use them to get money off your purchases online or in store. You can also double your points and redeem against things like days out for the family. It doesn't cost me anything to do as I would be spending the money anyway.
That doesn't seem like a very good deal at all. I have a Kohl's Reward card that gives me points back on what I buy online and in store. For every 100 points I receive a 5 dollar reward, I'm fairly certain it's 1 point per dollar spent. Not a great percentage but Kohl's has really great sales so the trade off works for me. My birthday was last month and they sent me a $10.00 reward in my email for being a member. I already had two $5.00 rewards to use, so that gave me a nice chunk of change to shop with. I went yesterday and bought $28 worth of earrings on clearance and with both of my rewards and the 30% off coupon, I only spent $4.40 or so out of pocket. The rewards system they have is great for me. Best Buy is also pretty good from my personal experience. They sent me a birthday reward of $10.00 as well, and I get a certain % in points back on my purchases. Though I haven't made any large purchases from them in awhile.
I think some of them could be worth it, or even all of them, because it's at least still much better than getting nothing at all in return. Although, I really wouldn't let that dictate where I shop, personally, unless the rewards really were worth it. I think it's best to just shop as you would normally, and let whatever points build up where you have signed up, rather than force yourself to shop somewhere just so you could build up points.
Oh it definitely depends. Some places have really good rewards programs. I would never shop at a store JUST for the rewards savings, though. I see them more as a perk and make my day-to-day spending decisions based on the actual flat price that I have to pay at the time.
We used to avail of those customer reward programs here in the Philippines, but we stopped after finding out that you don't really get a lot of points when you shop unless it's an expensive item like an appliance. I think it's just a marketing strategy for you to shop more, but of course the companies are smart enough not to make you get anything of large value.
I think many of these customer rewards programs are way outdated. They made sense like 20-30 years ago when we didn't have the technology readily available to track and monitor customer purchases the way we do now, but having to carry around a ton of rewards cards on our keychains with old barcodes on them is a really inefficient way of handling things. And as you noted, they really don't give you much in terms of savings. One of our local grocery chains, Giant Eagle, also has a companion gas station called Get Go which you can use your reward points for discounts on gasoline. This worked out well back in the 90's when you could accumulate enough points for like $1 or more off per gallon and practically fill your car for free, but when gas rose to like $4+ per gallon, those perks don't really make much of a dent in your gas costs anymore. Plus they made it harder to earn the points so you have to spend a lot more in their store to get them. This is also why I don't bother with coupons. Because in most cases if you look at them, they are all for name brand merchandise which is overpriced to begin with, and by the time you add in the coupons, you are still paying a little more than the generic or store brand counterparts. By simply sticking to the non-brand stuff you don't have any of that hassle. And you aren't buying products you really don't need or want at that moment just because they are on sale.
Some rewards programs are worth it, while some are verging on a scam!!! I have several rewords programs, but I don't let them stop me from getting things at other companies and stores if the prices are better. It's very rare that it's worth it to buy something in one store for a higher price because of their rewards program. I think this type of program should be only used as a bonus for you to buy there, not as a limitation.
