Woolworths reviewing partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyer.

[drross]

My theory is that about a month ago Woolworths Rewards tracked down some of the accounts their offers system had lost track of and sent out some we miss you offers to them.

2 daughters been overseas for 12-18 months so nothing on their EDR cards in that time ---still no offers

 

[Pushka]

I threw away my woolies card. After several hundreds of dollars shop I had less than five points.

 

[cove]

I think I have $20 stored there. I do have $2000 of Woolies gift cards that I bought for $1900 fro the RACWA that I will need to use prior to expiry.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

So at Yesterday's Woolworths AGM, Gordon Cairns made this admission:

“We did allow our supermarkets to deteriorate. (And) we lost the trust of our customers,” he said.
“We abused it. It’s very hard to get it back and that’s why we see it taking three to five years.” ( The Australian 24/11/2015)

CEO Brad Banducci comments on the new loyalty program:


The company’s leaders said they had seen early rewards from a shake-up of its loyalty program, with a “material improvement” in customer satisfaction seen since the relaunch in September.
“The relaunch also says a lot about the culture we aspire to have — we got it wrong but we listened to our customers and acted accordingly,” Mr Banducci said. (The Australian 24/11/2016)

Nocookies | The Australian

So what do people here on AFF think of Woolworths decision making, Company direction and the new loyalty program now it's been in place for a few months ?

 

[coco50]

So at Yesterday's Woolworths AGM, Gordon Cairns made this admission:

“We did allow our supermarkets to deteriorate. (And) we lost the trust of our customers,” he said.
“We abused it. It’s very hard to get it back and that’s why we see it taking three to five years.”

CEO Brad Banducci comments on the new loyalty program:


The company’s leaders said they had seen early rewards from a shake-up of its loyalty program, with a “material improvement” in customer satisfaction seen since the relaunch in September.
“The relaunch also says a lot about the culture we aspire to have — we got it wrong but we listened to our customers and acted accordingly,” Mr Banducci said.

Nocookies | The Australian


So what do people here on AFF think of Woolworths decision making, Company direction and the new loyalty program now it's been in place for a few months ?

Too Late, woollies. I'll stick with Coles. It's closer to home anyway.

 

[Lonely Flyer]

Too Late, woollies. I'll stick with Coles. It's closer to home anyway.

I can go both ways

Woolies 10000 for 4 weeks at $80 per week

Coles 10000 for 4 weeks at $250 per week

I will give you 2 guesses where I am shopping for the next 4 weeks.

 

[serfty]

The nearest Coles and Woollies to me are across the road from each other.

I venture to both regularly ... got an offer yesterday for 2000 points on a $40 spend in woolies as well as 2000 for $40 spend at BWS...

 

[BD1959]

Coles and Woolies seem to be in a bit of a local stouch.

I felt Woolies held the ascendancy (just) with slightly better product and so shopped there even before they ever introduced EDRs, my wife continued to loyally back Coles. Then Coles revamped the store and only the QF points kept me at Woolies. I'd been flitting between the two until about 12 weeks ago, when Woolies also revamped (sushi bar, cafe, butchers etc) and the quality of produce - and overall variety - increased and I am now back at Woolies, however I have noticed it start to slip again.

The whole QFF fiasco - and the leaner earn - has made me question my loyalty to Woolies and if the slip on introduced quality and variety continues, the revamped loyalty program won't keep me welded on. For instance, had to nip out at 10:30 last night and - as the Coles is slightly closer - went there; wouldn't have happened 2 years ago.

So the Execs are right on having lost the plot; not sure they can be so confident on regaining purely on their program - the next 3-5 years are likely to see seismic shifts in retailing and I'm guessing the timeline is there merely to buy them breathing space.

Regards,

BD

 

[drross]

The whole QFF fiasco - and the leaner earn - has made me question my loyalty to Woolies and if the slip on introduced quality and variety continues, the revamped loyalty program won't keep me welded on.

So the Execs are right on having lost the plot; not sure they can be so confident on regaining purely on their program - the next 3-5 years are likely to see seismic shifts in retailing and I'm guessing the timeline is there merely to buy them breathing space.

Regards,

BD

totally agree BD

 

[docjames]

The Woolies we used to use but left due to stock shortages and pricing has had a clear improvement in shelf stocking, staff attitude and they open a new register the second there's more than one person waiting. And price competitiveness has definitely improved too.

So the changes are starting to show. The staff also seem happier (maybe that's a byproduct of happier customers who can find what they want!).

During the "dark days" post the FF tie-up ending mrsdoc sent me with a specific list of 6 items she needed as a top-up. WW had 2 in stock and the rest were n/a - this on a weekday evening.

 

[mannej]

Coles is closer to our place, but woolies isn't that much further.

The coles offer was for $80 spend, woolies was $140, so no guessing where the next month of spend is going to.

According to Today Tonight Woolies has the better xmas ham, but I cannot preorder online so that is frustrating.

I still haven't moved my shopping back to Woolies as Flybuys seems to be consistent in receiving bonus offer, where as WWR isn't.

 

[eastwest101]

So the Execs are right on having lost the plot; not sure they can be so confident on regaining purely on their program - the next 3-5 years are likely to see seismic shifts in retailing and I'm guessing the timeline is there merely to buy them breathing space.

Yes - I think it will take 3-5 years to fix the multiple problems that were/are Dick Smith, Masters, Big W and WW EDR tie-up with Qantas, sure Qantas probably played hard-ball a bit and din't make it easy for WOW but all of these problems have one thing in common and thats WOW group management.

I think 3-5 years is a realistic amount of time to clean up multiple messes of this scale and also deal with competitors such as Coles/Aldi and possibly the arrival of Amazon.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Yes - I think it will take 3-5 years to fix the multiple problems that were/are Dick Smith, Masters, Big W and WW EDR tie-up with Qantas, sure Qantas probably played hard-ball a bit and din't make it easy for WOW but all of these problems have one thing in common and thats WOW group management.

I think 3-5 years is a realistic amount of time to clean up multiple messes of this scale and also deal with competitors such as Coles/Aldi and possibly the arrival of Amazon.

Good observations.

I would also add Lidl and David Jones( owned by Woolworths South Africa) have ambitions for Food retailing, targeting opposite ends of the market. Woolies will have their work cut out for them sustaining their market share.

 

[Bindibuys]

Will make a firm commitment once Woolies have started placing points into my QFF account. (15 Dec??)
I can see another fiasco on the horizon - they had better get it right.

 

[franjelley]

i sold my woolies and coles shares several years ago when i noticed how fickle consumers were, including me. If i didn't have to go the pharmacists for drugs fairly regularly, my life would consist of going to the pool, doing the gardening, repairing things in the house, ordering the groceries and wine... i can even get the pool on the card if i buy a season ticket.i am thoroughly expert at buying anything online, even beds. Groceries are easy peasy. the trick is to order very early in the morning. Then it is never late.Same as booking domestic flights in any country on earth. the early bird gets to go

Good observations.

I would also add Lidl and David Jones( owned by Woolworths South Africa) have ambitions for Food retailing, targeting opposite ends of the market. Woolies will have their work cut out for them sustaining their market share.

 

[JessicaTam]

Will make a firm commitment once Woolies have started placing points into my QFF account. (15 Dec??)
I can see another fiasco on the horizon - they had better get it right.

I second that remark.

 

[Himeno]

Yes - I think it will take 3-5 years to fix the multiple problems that were/are Dick Smith, Masters, Big W and WW EDR tie-up with Qantas, sure Qantas probably played hard-ball a bit and din't make it easy for WOW but all of these problems have one thing in common and thats WOW group management.

The same people who think that any issue reported that impacts on staff or a store as a whole is caused by and can be fixed at store level, when in most cases, it is something imposed on the store by above.

 

[rainbowgirl]

Woolworths Rewards have new terms and conditions starting on December 15, 2016.

I had a quick read of the conditions and believe I have found the following changes.

You will be able to have some control now on when your Woolworths Dollars are converted into QFF points. The quarterly option is still there but if you ring the Call Centre, you can ask them to transfer your QFF points, which will be done by 7 days after your phonecall.

The definitions section at the bottom indicates that Woolworths Rewards will be operating in Tasmania. I haven't seen any other publicity about this fact and what that means for the future of the Frequent Shopper Club.

If you spot any other changes let us know. I haven't compared the previous terms and conditions which I believe are still on the site somewhere so I've only mentioned the things that have jumped out at me as big changes.

https://www.woolworthsrewards.com.au/terms.html

Link to new terms above.

 

[Blackswan]

Woolworths Rewards have new terms and conditions starting on December 15, 2016.

I had a quick read of the conditions and believe I have found the following changes.

You will be able to have some control now on when your Woolworths Dollars are converted into QFF points. The quarterly option is still there but if you ring the Call Centre, you can ask them to transfer your QFF points, which will be done by 7 days after your phonecall.

The definitions section at the bottom indicates that Woolworths Rewards will be operating in Tasmania. I haven't seen any other publicity about this fact and what that means for the future of the Frequent Shopper Club.

If you spot any other changes let us know. I haven't compared the previous terms and conditions which I believe are still on the site somewhere so I've only mentioned the things that have jumped out at me as big changes.

https://www.woolworthsrewards.com.au/terms.html

Link to new terms above.

I always found that they were willing to put through the conversion request immediately (subject to x amount of days to transfer across), instead of waiting. However, as is anything Woolworths related - it involves a lot of patience, and many follow up telephone calls.

From my experience, if you make a request via over the phone, ensure that you also receive a notification email (normally comes through within 5 mins of the request being placed). If you don't receive the email, then you're going to have problems.

 

[grussellt]

I can't see much point in the "forced conversion" of points (to Qantas points) at the 4500 level and it also seems to cancel the choice of those who have chosen the "save for Christmas " option. This is in 3.3 of the new terms and conditions. WOW seems to be a bit begrudging in its attempt to provide loyalty rewards.