Woolworths backflips again on in-store loyalty program

Woolworths has been forced into yet another embarrassing backflip over its troubled in-store loyalty program.

The Woolworths loyalty scheme was first overhauled in October

Woolworths has been forced into yet another embarrassing backflip over its troubled in-store loyalty program, which has fallen flat with shoppers and suppliers alike.

The supermarket giant is expected to unveil another reboot of its rewards program in the next two weeks as it battles to win over customer loyalty.

The prime bugbear among shoppers — they must search through stores for products tagged with an orange ticket that then go into the shopping basket to earn “Woolworths dollars” — will be eliminated and is likely to be ­replaced with an easier system that will see Woolworths customers earn one point for every $1 spent in-store.

UPDATE: Woolies revamps rewards scheme

A leaked confidential Woolworths document sent to store managers and widely circulated online and on social media revealed the new rewards program — the third reworking of the problem-plagued loyalty scheme since October — will now allow 2000 points to be converted into $10 of Woolworths dollars.

It is unclear how the new scheme, set to start from August 31 according to the leaked memo, will affect Woolworths’ deal with Qantas whereby 10 Woolworths dollars can be turned into 870 Qantas points.

For Woolworths, the continued confusion, speculation and uncertainty over its loyalty scheme comes as it is fighting a losing battle with Coles for shoppers while also leaking customers to German discounter Aldi and US warehouse store Costco.

The Woolworths loyalty scheme was first overhauled in October where, to the anger of many shoppers, the retailer ditched its Qantas frequent-flyer points-based program and replaced it with the new rewards scheme, which triggered loyalty points only when certain products tagged with an orange ticket were bought.

There was an immediate backlash from customers over the offer, especially on social media, as points were no longer earned on any basket of more than $30 value, but rather hard-to-find ­orange-ticketed groceries, while Qantas frequent-flyer points were slated to be dumped.

Suppliers were similarly unhappy and many refused to ­participate in the new scheme, claiming the orange ticketing system was too costly and only served to benefit Woolworths, rather than support their marketing and sales programs.

By December, Woolworths was forced to restructure its rewards scheme, allowing shoppers to convert Woolworths dollars into Qantas points at a conversion rate of 870 Qantas points for every 10 Woolworths dollars.

The minimum $30 outlay to earn Qantas points was removed.

But the orange ticketing system was kept, although that now looks set for the scrap heap as shoppers continue to rebel against being forced into buying a limited number of grocery brands to trigger points on their cards.

A spokeswoman for Woolworths declined to comment on the leaked memo that details the new rewards program.

“We won’t comment on speculation but we have said for some time that we would make ­improvements to the program and include a partnership with ­Qantas. We look forward to unveiling the details soon,’’ the spokeswoman said