Best Buy ending Rewards Zone program on April 4th

[EvilTofu]

Received the following email:


This could be the effect from the new law in which points can't expire. Makes it too expensive for businesses to carry the debt, so they end up canceling the program.

[mulock]

Wow. BestBuy continues to go downhill. I was frustrated when they opened their website to third party resellers/sellers and you end up with a mess of random products, and now they are ending their rewards program.

[kiwis-mom]

The reward points was most of the reason I would buy stuff there then at WM or Amazon, as they would price match. So why would I bother now?

What customer feedback are they talking about anyways? Yes, please do away with rewards points...how rude to offer customers an incentive to shop at your store! Personalized to me doubt it very much!

[GeorgiaK]

Another rewards program bites the dust. I wonder why so many companies are ending their rewards programs this year.

[Arjon]

Another rewards program bites the dust. I wonder why so many companies are ending their rewards programs this year.

The most likely key reason is simple bottom-line stuff combined with an understanding of consumer behavior. Including admin costs, the cost of BB's program might be in the range of 2% of sales. Canceling the program won't turn all of this into profit. I don't know about BB, but a great many companies' operating profits are under 5%, so even a fraction of the 2% can represent a significant increase relative to the 5%.

The other factor is that consumer behavior tends to be quite a bit less flexible than most people think it is. Overall, people tend to express verbal disgruntlement to a MUCH greater degree than they actually take action. In this regard, it's worth noting that the active memberships of DC and similar sites aren't representative of the population as a whole. Furthermore, some people who are dissatisfied will still buy from BB when they have the best deal on things.

In addition, it is still unclear afaik whether BB will introduce other loyalty initiatives.