A July 2018 Eighty20 report found that the average South African consumer is subscribed to as many as nine different rewards programmes, covering retail, petrol, and banking, among other sectors.

However, the report found that while South African consumers were highly subscribed, they aren’t necessarily always active when it came to using rewards programmes.

Two standouts in this area are Pick n Pay’s Smart Shopper programme and Woolworths’ WRewards were however, shown to have the highest percentage of active users at 85% and 81% respectively.

Below BusinessTech looked at what makes these programmes stand out, and how they compare against each other.

Pick n Pay Smart Shopper

It is free to sign up for a Pick n Pat Smart Shopper account which customers can use to earn and spend points on a variety of deals.

Customers earn points when they swipe their Smart Shopper card at a Pick n Pay till point – earning 1 point for every R2 spent.

Pick n Pay allows users to spend these points on any item in-store, swap them out for other partner rewards and even donate them to charity.

Customers are also offered personalised and exclusive discounts via the in-store kiosk, Pick n Pay mobile app or directly via a weekly mailer.

The Smart Shopper programme also offers linked accounts to allow the same family to use primary, secondary and collector Smart Shopper cards to earn points seperately.

Some of the partner rewards available through Smart Shopper include:

• Earn 20 Smart Shopper points per litre* of fuel and BP’s nationwide (until the end of March 2019);
• Earn 5000 Smart Shopper points when you book a car rental through Europcar and 3000 Smart Shopper points when you book a chauffeur;
• Switch R50 worth of Smart Shopper points for a R100 Intercape voucher;
• Switch R25 in Smart Shopper points for ANY small Kauai smoothie;
• Switch R50 in Smart Shopper points for a R100 Netflorist voucher;
• Get one week of FREE training at a Planet Fitness/Just Gym of your choice. Members also get 50 Smart Shopper points per visit;
• Switch R40 worth of Smart Shopper points for a R50 Spur e-Gift voucher;
• Switch R30 in Smart Shopper points for a 2D movie ticket valued at R84.

Woolworths WRewards 

It is free to sign up for a WRewards account, with shoppers able to access a number of discounts, deals and vouchers.

The card has three reward tiers – Valued members, Loyal members and VIP members.

Everyone starts out as a Valued member, with users upgrading to a higher tier status the more they spend.

Woolworths said that it review these records daily, automatically upgrading customers as they qualify for a higher tier status.

Valued members (starting membership)

• Save up to 20% on selected items;
• Get an extra 5% off when paying with your Woolies card;
• Exclusive information about sales and special events.

Loyal members (spend between R10,000 and R29,999 a year) 

• Save up to 20% on selected items;
• Get an extra 5% off when paying with your Woolies card;
• Exclusive information about sales and special events;
• Exclusive vouchers throughout the year;
• Welcome-to-tier voucher.

VIP members (spend more than R30,000 a year) 

• Save up to 20% on selected items;
• Get an extra 5% off when paying with your Woolies card;
• Exclusive information about sales and special events;
• Exclusive vouchers throughout the year;
• Welcome-to-tier voucher;
• Birthday voucher.

In addition to in-store offerings, Woolworths also has a dedicated online store displaying deals for WReward members.

Other notable benefits include:

• The ability to earn extra rewards when buying WRewards Green products marked with a green heart;
• The ability to link your Discovery Vitality membership and get up to 25% cash back on certain items;
• Special offers for children under the age of seven through Woolworths’ ‘Littleworld’ programme.