Store reward programs seem like a great deal for shoppers, with instant discounts and special offers not available to non-members. But there are tradeoffs to all these deals. Retailers haven’t designed and instituted these programs out of pure kindness and the generosity of their bottom-line hearts, and at some point the savvy consumer must ask:  Are you using the programs to get discounts that help you spend less?  Or are retailers using loyalty programs to get you to spend more?

The WSJ story on retailer reward programs begins with the line:

It’s starting to feel like you should almost never have to pay full price.

And this is true. What with a never-ending stream of daily deal sites, the proliferation of stores where merchandise is constantly on sale, and a steady stream of coupons saving consumers tens of millions annually, there’s no shortage of ways to avoid paying full price. Things have gotten to the point where the “new normal” deeming something a legit bargain might be 50% off.  The ubiquity of discounts may make you wonder whether today’s “original” prices are meaningless—they’re numbers no one really pays,  inflated mainly to make the discounts seem more impressive (a marketing strategy known as “anchoring”).

In any event, it seems truer than ever that nowadays, only suckers pay retail. One of the easiest ways to avoid the full price is by joining store reward programs and/or signing up for retailer e-mails.  The WSJ story explains that these retailer programs follow directly on the heels of the barcoded supermarket and drugstore fobs that every shopper and their grandmother now has on their keys (or smartphone).  Here are the sorts of discounts program members can expect:

Old Navy, the bargain-priced division of Gap Inc., had a secret sale last year, with its $8.50 camisoles for $2. To receive the discount, shoppers had to flash a coupon or say to a sales associate “Cami for me.” The clothing store Anthropologie offers discounts to Anthro card members on their birthdays. DSW does as well, along with another coupon on shoppers’ half-birthdays.

That DSW must really love its customers. Who else celebrates a half-birthday? I’m not even sure Hallmark has a card for that occasion (yet).

But in order to get anything in this world, you must give something as well.

Read the full story here.

Recent Content

Membership and Pricing

Videos and podcasts

Membership and Pricing