Woolworths Everyday Rewards card digitally excluding shoppers

Brian* is in his 70s and has shopped at his local Countdown – now Woolworths – for 13 years.

In February, he went along to the supermarket and asked for his loyalty card to be switched to the new Everyday Rewards card. Woolworths was rolling out its new rewards programme at the time.

But he was told he couldn’t switch to the new card without having an email address or phone number.

Brian was born with cerebral palsy and is unable to use a computer keyboard or the small keypad on a phone. Still, the supermarket insisted he needed an email and phone number.

His sister, Charlotte*, wrote to us about Brian’s problem getting a rewards card, saying it wasn’t good enough.

“Brian has managed to live a long and very successful life without having to use a computer keyboard or a cell phone,” she said.

He ran his own transport business, which enjoyed a solid reputation, and which he sold when he retired about 5 years ago, she said.

Brian’s experience of trying to get a rewards card raises two issues. The first is digital exclusion, where people face obstacles navigating systems because of a lack of access to a computer or the internet.

The second issue is that Brian’s difficulty obtaining a card means he missed out on member deals and potentially paid more for his groceries.

The price difference when shopping without a rewards card

When you use a Woolworths Everyday Rewards card, you collect points for every dollar spent. Once you get to 2,000 points you get a $15.00 to use on your shop.

In a recent media release, Woolworths said “over 1 million vouchers” have been redeemed on fuel and groceries since the card launched in February.

“The equivalent of around $15 million in rewards for members.”

So, Brian missed out on accumulating points as well as product deals.

Brian isn’t sure how much extra he has ended up paying for his groceries. But when we calculated the cost for five meals in a weekly shop, where some items were discounted for Everyday Rewards members, Brian could have saved at least $15.00 a week if he’d had a card. He would also have accumulated 106 points towards a voucher.

Woolworths’ response

In February, we asked Woolworths what systems it had in place to accommodate shoppers without access to email or a phone.

Woolworths said it didn’t “have a solution for customers who didn’t have phone numbers and email addresses and wish to sign up to Everyday Rewards”.

It promised to look into finding a permanent solution.

In the meantime, it said Brian could ask a support person to call on his behalf. The support person could then sign Brian up for a card using the support person’s email and phone number.

This solution wouldn’t work for Brian. He’d still need someone to ring the 0800 number on his behalf.

Understandably, Brian’s sister Charlotte was unimpressed with this response.

“Brian’s really dependent on me. We usually do shop together, but it would be much easier … I’m older than Brian … so if he was on his own, he would be having real problems. The real long-term solution is to have people with disabilities able to function on their own. They don’t need propping up.

“They should really be having a customer service in the store that helps people.”

We couldn’t agree more.

When we got in touch with Woolworths last month to see whether a permanent solution had been found, we were told the only options available to people were to call an 0800 number or use the chat bot on its website to register.

We asked Woolworths whether customers still had to have a phone number and an email address to get the card. A spokesperson said, while we “will encourage a customer to provide a phone and email address there is an alternative process for customers who have a genuine reason for not having these”.

The spokesperson also mentioned that when the Everyday Rewards card was launched in February there were “Orange ambassadors” in store to help customers.

At New World, shoppers without a phone or email do have the option of registering for a Clubcard.

“We’ve had a small number of customers register for a New World Clubcard instore or through our customer service team without having to provide their contact information. This is considered on a case by case basis,” a spokesperson said.

Is data collection more important than people?

While Woolworths used to issue rewards cards that weren’t tied to an email, it doesn’t anymore with its revamped Everyday Rewards Programme.

On its website it says this is because the card is unique to an individual. It adds, “We’re no longer providing ‘blank’ cards in-store to reduce our plastic and cardboard production and waste.”

We find this reasoning completely disingenuous.

Having a card linked to an individual means Woolworths can track their shopping data and share it with other businesses and social media platforms to target advertising to the cardholder. If the supermarket starts making exceptions to the way people can register for its rewards card, it risks missing out on a lot of data that helps it make more money.

Woolworths’ previous loyalty card, Onecard, had 1.9 million users, and a scan rate of 59% in 2023. In dollar terms, a Onecard was scanned in three quarters of Woolworths’ sales. That’s a lot of data that it could analyse to work out how to get more money out of shoppers.

The major change in the switch from Onecard to Everyday Rewards is the business is publicising its “boost” programme a lot more than it did with the previous card. The supermarket can offer this programme because it’s analysing your card data. It can then charge its suppliers to boost their products to you.

Woolworths’ earnings in 2023 before interest and tax in Aotearoa was $249 million.

Brian gets a rewards card

Brian did end up getting an Everday Rewards card. It arrived in the mail with a $30 credit “for his trouble”, Brian said.

He wasn’t sure how he got the card, saying it must have been through Charlotte ringing Woolworths to organise one.

“They are pretty slack with all of this, I mean, we were really on their tail … Brian has had a lot of difficulty with them,” Charlotte said.

We think Woolworths could do a lot better to ensure its services were available for everyone. Data isn’t more important than ensuring people having access to cheaper groceries. People shouldn’t have to pay more just because they can’t (or won’t) hand over a phone number or email address.

It would be better if people were able to opt out of “loyalty” programmes and still get their groceries at reasonable prices.

---

*Both names in this story have been changed for privacy reasons.