BJ's Wholesale Loyalty ProgramThe My BJ’s Perks™ Rewards Program, which launched in October 2014, exceeded all expectations during its first year, Stephanie Meltzer-Paul, the company’s Vice President of Membership Rewards and Co-brand, told Loyalty360.

The My BJ’s Perks Program offers BJ’s members two options:

  1. The BJ’s Perks Rewards Membership is an upgraded membership that allows shoppers to earn 2% back on most BJ’s purchases. The annual membership fee is $100 compared to the usual $50.
  2. With the My BJ’s Perks MasterCard®, members can earn up to 5% back on BJ's purchases, up to 2% back on purchases outside of BJ's, plus every day gas savings, and more.  There is no annual credit card fee. The Co-brand program is a partnership with Alliance Data and MasterCard®.

Members of the program accumulate their earnings and can redeem them in $20 increments at any BJ’s club.

What’s more, with the BJ’s Easy Renewal® Program, members with the MasterCard can receive an annual membership discount of up to $25 when they pay their renewal fees automatically via the co-branded card.

“It’s an extremely rich product,” Meltzer-Paul said. “And the program exceeded all first-year expectations as a result of that richness. Growth has been tremendous in the program, especially our co-branded products.  We’ve seen members earn and redeem their rewards quickly. Since a member’s Awards will show up at our registers in $20 increments they have greater flexibility in choosing to redeem or hold on to them for a little longer.”

BJ’s Wholesale Club’s team members account for a huge piece of the customer loyalty puzzle.

“We’re a club model,” Meltzer-Paul explained. “Our team members are our best tools for selling and growing the program; 80% of our new acquisition into the program this year was via the club channel, so we know our team members are our biggest advocates. Our team members know that with this program we’re putting our members first with the benefits we give back to them.”BJ's Wholesale Loyalty Program

The first year of the loyalty program was a positive one in every aspect.

“It was a great year of learning and trying out a lot of things,” Meltzer-Paul said. “We have so many benefits to our co-branded product that sometimes our team members aren’t sure what to pitch first. So we are tweaking our signage and marketing to simplify the messaging and elevate the benefits that appeal the most to members.”

Member feedback is a constant fact for BJ’s Wholesale Club.

“We’ve been listening to valuable feedback from our clubs.” Meltzer-Paul said. “Right away, we learned that the gas benefit attracts members’ interest. BJ’s has some of the lowest gas prices in the country and with our MasterCard you save an additional 10 cents per gallon. So the savings can really add up. There is emotional buying power behind gas. People will go out of their way to pay less for it. So leading the pitch with the gas benefit gets members to sign up for the card but we find they use it for their everyday purchases beyond just gas, too.”

During the first year of the loyalty program, Meltzer-Paul said BJ’s more than doubled the number of co-branded accounts it had with its previous bank partner “and we were in that program for five years. It shows the strength of our benefits, and the effectiveness from members telling other members about the program.”

Since the loyalty program launched in late 2014, Meltzer-Paul said company officials have noticed a change in customer behavior.

“For us, it was interesting on the redemption side of things as it was a big change in how members were going to be able to use their earnings versus the previous program,” she explained. “But we’ve been pleased with how members are responding- seeing their gratification at the register and how hassle-free it is to get your Awards. It also helps promote the program to people behind you in line.”

During 2016, Meltzer-Paul said BJ’s plans to invest more in training.

“Selling a credit card product isn’t easy,” she explained. “So we’re investing more in one-on-one, on-the-job training with our field team, plus giving our team members more instructional vehicles like videos, and online learning modules. Pitching the program needs to be second nature. We’re working on projections for 2016, and we feel we really only scratched the surface of this program. We’re investing heavily to grow it, and along with that come more aggressive targets. We’re hoping to grow My BJ’s Perks Program by double digit percentages in 2016.”

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