http://www1.shoppersdrugmart.ca/en/Shoppers-Optimum/All-Optimum-Offers/Gift-Card.aspx
I receive quite a few e-mails from Shoppers Drug Mart about their current promotions, but I do not unsubscribe to it like I did to other company’s newsletters because it is one of the places that I shop at the most. Its point reward system is amazing because you can earn up to $170 worth of points with a free Shoppers Optimum Rewards card. The Shoppers Optimum Rewards program has five point levels with the lowest being 8000 points, which his worth ten dollars. 8000 points means that you have to spend $800 in order to save $10 on the next purchase. Spending $800 at Shoppers is achievable but spending $1,700 to earn $170 worth of points seems impossible. Therefore, I wait for their special events, which is why I signed up for their newsletters. Even though they modified their point system last year so that it is harder to earn points, I still prefer to shop at Shoppers when possible. They have different promotions and they take place one after another. The most recent one is that you get a free Shoppers gift card when you spend $50 or more. For gift card promotions you do not need the optimum rewards card. I usually ignore these gift card promotions unless I am in desperate need of something because there are better promotions that give more value. So far, their best promotion is that you get $18,500 points when you spend $75. This is better than 20 times point event because with 20x points event, you only redeem 15,000 points for spending $75. Also, redeeming a gift card means that it would be impossible to accumulate optimum points to save more on the next purchase. The optimum reward program is an effective strategy in retaining Shoppers’ customers.
Why do you think they offer all of these different promotions, Clara? And do they ever get confusing for consumers, do you think?
They offer all the different promotions, one after another because if they have the same promotion going on the entire time, it won’t be as attractive to consumers since the promotion will always be there. For instance, this jewelry store at Metrotown called Mimosa, they put out their 40% off (or maybe more) sign in front of their store all year round. People who always go to Metrotown will know that the same promotion will always be there, so they won’t have an urge to go in and buy something. Thus, this tactic may work for people who do not go by that store very often. Also, the fact that Mimosa has the same promotion all year round makes me think that they most likely increase the prices on the price tag so the promotional discount can cancel out the difference. On the other hand, I realize that Shoppers always puts out a discount that is not as good as the one before. For instance, they will have “get 20x points if you spend $50″, and then it will be followed by ‘get 20x points if you spend $75.” When they have a certain promotion going on for a shorter period of time, consumers may feel that it’s special, it doesn’t come out that often, so they may have an urge to buy something there even though they don’t necessarily need it. Even for items that they normally buy at another store, they may choose to buy them at Shoppers so that they can gather up to $50 worth of goods. Obviously consumers will save more if they only buy the items they need, but getting the 20x points just makes them feel they are getting more value from their purchase.
The different promotions that Shoppers offers are quite straight forward, so I don’t think consumers would get confused.