The Big Push for Store Branded Credit Cards
As Australia’s retail sector is struggling retailers have started to really push their store-branded credit card offerings. In two different stores on Saturday I got informed about their loyalty credit cards, both times the sales person was a little tricky on bringing up the subject.
David Jones
I was looking for a pair of jeans and the sales assistant came over. I asked for some help and before he gave me any he said “First, how would you like a free $100?” to which I thought “$100? Ok.” He began explaining all the benefits of the David Jones American Express card. Tricky, and perhaps it works, but it was a bit annoying that before he would help me with my current purchase he tried to sell me something that I wasn’t interested in.
Woolworths
I was buying some vegies when a lady came over with a clip board. She asked if she could ask me a few quick questions, to which I replied “Sure”. She asked whether I would prefer frequent flyer points or gift cards, how much I spent on groceries each week, and a couple of other questions. I thought maybe she was going to tell me that there was now a way to auto-redeem your Qantas Frequent Flyer points that are earned through Everyday Rewards, but no. She snuck in a sentence about the Everyday Money credit card. I had to ask her to repeat it because of how fast she spoke, and then informed her that no I didn’t need another credit card.
David Jones and Woolworths are leading the way in what will become a competitive credit card market before long. Have you got a store-branded credit card?
Cheers,
Graham
Tags: American Express, David Jones, everyday money, Woolworths
June 21st, 2011 at 1:14 pm
David Jones and Woolworths “leading the way”? Hardly. Myer customers get for free via Myer One the same kind of benefits that you have to stump up a huge annual fee for with the DJ’s Amex. And I’m surprised that Woolies are even persisting with the poor old Everyday Money credit card. That’s the one Woolies set up completely independent of their Qantas relationship - single-handedly designed to confuse customers I think. I’d also question your comment that the credit card market is “about to become” competitive. Anyone playing in that space will tell you for free that it’s plenty crowded already!
June 21st, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Heya Brian,
Cheers for the comments.
To clarify, which I admit upon re-reading wasn’t very obvious, I don’t mean leading the way in terms of the benefits provided, but in the push for getting people to become members of their store-branded rewards credit cards and making it a feature of shopping with the retailers.
I am also only referring to store-branded rewards credit cards becoming competitive opposed to the whole rewards credit card market. Like you say, the current offerings from David Jones and Woolworths are far from enticing, so it will be good to see a few more stores release their own cards with, hopefully, more appealing options.
If the store-branded rewards credit card market becomes anything like the United States then we can look forward to a nice range of program structures and benefits apart from the 3-2-1 system currently being used by both Woolworths and David Jones.
Cheers,
Graham
June 21st, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Hey Graham, thanks for clarifying; I think we’re on the same page, although I can’t see the store-branded rewards credit card market becoming anything like the US. It’s a struggle for any new credit card product to gain critical mass in the Aussie market - we’ve just not got the scale (or purse/wallet space) to support heaps of cards. Look at the massive ongoing promotion Woolies and Qantas have given their card; by reports it’s not setting the world on fire. Most of the new offerings are niche at best eg. the 3 new cards from Virgin/Amex - presumably attractive enough for the segment they’ve targeted, but with annual fees of “just” (their word, not mine) $349, $249 and $199, the appeal will be very limited out in mum and dad land. Myer’s a salutary example I think - big membership for their (free) rewards card; by comparison, the reported uptake of their allied Visa card is minuscule.
June 24th, 2011 at 10:22 am
This is one reason why I don’t spend much at David Jones anymore. I haven’t had the direct approach by a sales assistant, however I have been approached by staff strategically placed at escalators. What really annoys me is that some of their specials are only available by purchase with the DJ Amex, mind you Myer also do the same thing with interest free.