Optimum and PC Plus cards to merge

Customers at Shoppers Drug Mart or any of Loblaw Companies Ltd.’s grocery stores will soon use a new, unified loyalty program that replaces Optimum and PC Plus points.

Loblaw will merge the two programs starting Feb. 1, 2018, under the name PC Optimum — a longanticipated move that comes more than three years after the grocery giant acquired the pharmacy chain and its in-house Shopper Optimum system.

“We’re bringing the very best of Shoppers Optimum and PC Plus together,” said Uwe Stueckmann, senior vice-president of marketing.

PC Optimum is “the future of loyalty programs for Loblaw companies,” he said, “harnessing both the power of PC Plus and Shoppers Optimum across the unified network of our stores coast to coast.”

For the company, the merger creates a more efficient and unified data collection system to gather insights to better target customers, an increasingly important tool for grocers in a highly competitive market.

Consumers can keep collecting points as usual until Feb. 1 next year when their Optimum and/or Plus points will move to the new program at equal value. If a collector has $100 worth of Optimum points, they will receive $100 worth of PC Optimum points, for example.

In Quebec, where Shoppers Drug Mart operates under the Pharmaprix name, the Pharmaprix Optimum program will end on Jan. 31, 2018, and members will have until May 2 that year to redeem their points or convert them at equal value to the new program.

Collectors will then use a single card or app and continue to earn points on money spent at Shoppers. They’ll also be able to earn points through personalized offers and in-store promotions at all stores, and by using the President’s Choice Financial MasterCard.

The new program will have an easy to remember redemption system — with 10,000 points valued at $10, 20,000 points at $20 and so on to a maximum single transaction redemption of $500. Shoppers can use their reward money at any of Loblaw’s nearly 2,500 stores and the company’s websites.

For RBC retail analyst Irene Nattel, the merger answers a longstanding question about how the company would deal with its two loyalty programs in order to maximize reach and impact.

“In a world with increasing retail fragmentation, PC Optimum has the potential to be a powerful tool to retain and grow share of wallet within the Loblaw ecosystem,” she said.