New Loblaw loyalty program follows Amazon Prime’s lead
Loblaw Companies Ltd. is launching its new loyalty program across Canada, offering an assortment of perks for $99 a year in an attempt to convince more customers to shop exclusively with its massive grocery chain, creating what one senior executive called a “loyalty loop.”
The PC Insiders program, styled after the popular Amazon Prime (minus the streaming service), includes free “click and collect” grocery shopping, where customers order online and pickup at one of 600 designated locations, as well as free shipping on purchases from Loblaw’s Joe Fresh apparel brand and Shoppers Drug Mart.
The program, available at $9.99 a month, is now available to members who currently use PC Optimum, its free rewards program. The announcement Thursday comes after a yearlong pilot ballooned to the point that Loblaw had to turn members away. When the pilot started last year, the plan was to open the program up to 5,000 hyper-loyal customers who already used Loblaws PC Optimum and the President’s Choice Financial Mastercard. Instead, Loblaw added 25,000 members after media attention and word of mouth saw prospective members signing onto a waitlist by the thousands. Even after expanding to 25,000 members, 3,000 people were still on the wait-list.
PC Insiders is the latest in a series of shakeups to Loblaws’ loyalty programs. Its current free rewards program was itself born earlier this year when Loblaw merged its PC Plus card with Shoppers Optimum. But Columb denied that all the changes could confuse customers, pointing to the thousands who were quick to join the Insiders pilot program. In the year of testing, he said he saw a need to better show plan members how much they were apparently saving. “It’s all about creating that loyalty loop,” Columb said, “and driving customers back into the store, where they find value and convenience.”