Dare to compare: who has the best loyalty card?

From the pharmacy, supermarket, airlines, hotels, coffee sellers and wine shops, everyone wants you to sign up to their loyalty club.

Loyalty cards are an attempt to win your repeat business. As a member, you can accrue points and redeem them for a discount on the price of purchases or merchandise.

It all sounds pretty good  – but exactly how well are you being rewarded for your loyalty?

Some offer gifts, others discounts. All are designed to ensure you spend with the brand – and spend more.

And remember – the cost of the rewards has been factored into the price you pay for your purchases. So don’t miss out on the opportunity – you’re paying for it anyway.

The cards include Woolworths Rewards, Coles Flybuys, Priceline Sister Club, Qantas Frequent Flyers and Vintage Cellars Wine Club.

SUPERMARKET LOYALTY CARDS

Coles Flybuys and Woolworths Rewards give you points whenever you shop at the supermarket or with program partners such as Big W or BWS for Woolworths and Kmart, Target and Liquorland for Coles Flybuys. They also allow you to get frequent flyer points for your spending as you can transfer Woolworths Rewards to Qantas Points and flybuys points.

Both Coles and Woolworths programs are free to join online.

For every 2000 Woolworths Reward points or Coles Flybuys points, you will get $10 off your grocery bills.

You can redeem your flybuy points for merchandise. For instance, you need 16,100 flybuy points to redeem Moki Noise Cancellation headphones or 8000 points for a black Moki Powerbank gadget.

You can also transfer 2000 Woolworths Reward points for 1000 Qantas Points. If you choose this option, the transfer will be automatic whenever you reach 2000 Woolworths Rewards points.

The rate of transfer for flybuy points into Velocity Points is also similar.

For more information visit www.woolworthsrewards.com.au and www.flybuys.com.au

Qantas Frequent Flyers

It costs $99.50 to sign up for Qantas Frequent Flyer program on Qantas website. You can earn points on all Qantas flights including low fare flights and 35 partner airlines including American Airlines, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Japan Airlines, Qatar and Emirates.

For more information, visit https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/discover-and-join/join.html

Priceline Sister Club

This loyalty program only applies when you spend $100 or more in three months. So if you are buying all your vitamins, make-up and toiletries at Priceline, this can easily add up. You will receive a 3 per cent discount if you spend between $100 and $199 at any one purchase and 4 per cent for $200 or more. You will also get a $10 voucher when it is your birthday and from time to time, you will receive vouchers to give you additional discounts. For more information, visit priceline.com.au/sister-club

The Coffee Club VIP membership

If you are a big coffee drinker, this is a good loyalty card to have but it costs $25 to join the VIP Club. The program gives members a buy one, get one free on all hot drinks all the time, as well as a 10 per cent discount on food on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. You will also get a free coffee on your birthday. For more information visit coffeeclub.com.au/vip-club/

Vintage Cellars Wine Club

You can collect one Wine Club Point for every dollar you spend on wine bought in-store or online. You will earn $25 Cellar Share for every 500 points to redeem in-store on your favourite wines, spirits and beers. You will also receive a free Cellar Press magazines. For more information, visit vintagecellars.com.au/wineclub.