Would you like beauty boxes and free facials with that purchase, or Qantas frequent flyer points?
These are some of the carrots being dangled by Myer and David Jones as they give their respective loyalty programs a makeover to tempt shoppers back into department stores following years of declining relevance.
Myer has launched MY Edition Beauty Boxes for silver, gold and planium-tier members.
Just weeks after David Jones’ new tie-up with Qantas scooped over 50,000 new members through the promise of frequent flyer points with every purchase, and ecommerce player The Iconic announced its own scheme, Myer has revealed changes of its own.
The department store has lowered spending thresholds so Myer One members can climb the tiers more quickly, introduced beauty boxes and complimentary beauty treatments for silver, gold and platinum members, and scrapped the once-a-quarter point redemption windows.
The lowered spending requirements mean about 1.6 million Myer One customers will be automatically upgraded to the next tier over the next 12 months. For instance, a customer who spent between $1500 to $5999 to be a silver member will now only need to spend $750. To achieve gold status, annual spend of $2500 instead of over $6000 will get you over the line.
A strong loyalty program, according to Myer chief executive Olivia Wirth, can encourage shopping across different categories, keep customers coming back, and lower costs.
“Loyalty is very much at the centre of our business,” Wirth declared. “It is a competitive advantage, which is why we’re very much focused on it.”
Myer executive chair Olivia Wirth has included beauty services and freebies in its new loyalty program.Credit: Louie Douvis
On this, she and counterpart Scott Fyfe are on the same page. The David Jones chief executive last week told this masthead the department store was “here to start a new era of loyalty”.
And Myer’s loyalty program might have the upper hand here as it’s bigger and older: established in 2004, Myer One is three times larger at roughly 4.7 million members, compared to David Jones’ 1.5 million.
But David Jones has made its tie-up with Qantas the key selling point of its scheme – and it arguably has broader appeal. By piggybacking on the dominant carrier’s highly profitable loyalty program (the largest in the country, with about 17 million members), customers can choose to bank up, or spend either David Jones or Qantas points when they check out in store or online.
“It does feel like David Jones rewards partnership is almost being sold as ‘join David Jones to get Qantas [points]’,” said frequent flyer guide Points Hack spokesperson Daniel Sciberras.
In the past three weeks, David Jones’ loyalty scheme has gained more than 50,000 members.
“We haven’t seen these new customers before,” said Fyfe, who is aiming for 5 million members in five years. “Qantas is already bringing us new customers in.”
Points Hack’s comparative analysis of the Myer-Velocity and David Jones-Qantas programs concluded that the value of each was very similar, said Sciberras.
Myer attempted to counter its rival’s move by expanding its partnership with Virgin Australia: members can now use Virgin points on a Myer purchase in store as well as online, but not earn Velocity points.
Wirth insists that Myer is running its own race.
“We’re very focused on what our customer wants. We understand what their needs are. We’re very clear about their pain points. We’re very clear on what they like, and that’s what we’re going to be focused on delivering,” she said.
“What you need to look at is level of engagement, the level of depth in a [loyalty] program and I think that this is what Myer One has.”
Where David Jones rewards the Qantas passenger, Myer’s enhanced suite of freebies targets the frequent department store shopper through ‘reward days’ where customers can earn double points.
Myer’s complimentary beauty treatments also give customers a very tangible reward experience. “It will be anything from facials, to makeup, to brows,” said Wirth. The ‘MY Edition Beauty Boxes’ are reminiscent of Mecca’s highly successful Beauty Loop boxes, which members will have to go in store to collect.
“It is a sense of immediacy … This actually helps make sure that they feel recognised and rewarded for being the members that they are.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
