This article was originally published on 16 July and updated on 29 July 2020.
The Woolworths Everyday Rewards loyalty program will be rolled out in Tasmania from 6 August 2020. From this date, Tasmanian residents will finally have an opportunity to earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points when shopping at Woolworths – just like the rest of Australia.
As Australian Frequent Flyer first reported in May, Woolworths has been preparing to replace the existing Frequent $hopper Club program in Tasmania with the supermarket’s nationwide loyalty scheme for the past few months. Woolworths has now confirmed that Thursday, 6 August has been chosen as the launch date.
Under the current Frequent $hopper Club program in Tasmania, Woolworths customers earn 1 point per $1 spent. Members can then redeem 1,000 points for $10 off their shopping.
With Woolworths’ Everyday Rewards program, members need to accumulate 2,000 points to get a $10 discount. But members also have the option to convert 2,000 Everyday Rewards points to 1,000 Qantas points. Those Qantas points can be redeemed towards flights and other rewards via the Qantas Frequent Flyer program.
It’s also worth noting that Everyday Rewards sends regular and generous points booster offers to its members. So, even though the Frequent $hopper Club may seem like better value on the surface, that doesn’t take into account the many bonus points that Everyday Rewards members can earn with their shopping.
Mixed feelings among Tasmanian Woolworths customers
Woolworths says that it recently surveyed 308 Frequent $hopper Club members, and 90% of them agreed Tasmanians should have access to the same Rewards program benefits as the rest of the country.
Indeed, when we revealed news of the upcoming change back in May, some Tasmanian readers welcomed the change. One commenter wrote:
Best “exclusive” news ever….well not quite ever, and it would be nicer to have better news on Covid-19, but this is great. We have been the poor cousins for years due to this Purity agreement. I have rung and complained every couple of years, to no avail! Never been able to get WR bonus points in Tasmania like Flybuys, so the sooner this happens the better. Waiting for any timing/date updates now.
Another wrote:
Am with you Ashley, looking forward to jumping between the Flybuys/Velocity and WR/Qantas offers finally! Round the world first class is getting closer!
But other Tasmanians believe they can get better value with the existing program:
Tasmanians are not the “poor Cousins”. The Everyday rewards scheme is far inferior to the Frequent shopper scheme, and nobody in their right mind would applaud such a bone headed move to alienate loyal Woolworths customers by HALVING their rewards.. The Qantas frequent flyer scheme that is touted as a benefit of the Everyway rewards scheme has proven time and again to be ineffective.
Tasmanians are not at all forgiving of “Mainland” interference and there will be a backlash if the existing benefit of the cash discount is removed or halved. Converting it to points instead will not be popular if that is the only choice. Why do you think nothing has been done before.
Tasmanian residents will be able to enrol in Everyday Rewards starting from 6 August 2020. But there will be a phased transition period for current Frequent $hopper Club members to make the switch. The existing program will continue to operate alongside Everyday Rewards until early 2021.
“We’re excited to bring the Rewards program to Tasmania to offer local customers more ways to earn and redeem points,” Woolworths Director of Rewards Hannah Ross said.
“We know Tasmanians have long enjoyed the Frequent Shopper Club program, so this will be a phased transition between now and after Christmas. This will allow Frequent Shopper Club members to take their time to familiarise themselves with the new Rewards program and benefits before switching programs,” Ross added.
Information will be available to customers in Tasmanian supermarkets from August. Woolworths is also planning some in-store activities to promote the new loyalty program.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Do Tasmanian Woolworths customers really prefer the “Frequent $hopper Club”?
