eBay Plus was fully launched in June 2018 in the Australian market, with a range of benefits including free delivery on Plus items, free returns on Plus items, bonus flybuys points, exclusive offers and deals and premium customer service. After a 30 day free trial, the program membership cost $49 per annum.
With such a package, the program only really appealed to die-hard eBay buyers i.e. one’s who were already quite loyal. This has all changed with the announcement of a major partnership with Coles.
From today, Coles are selling a large range of products on eBay, including selected pre-packaged food, pantry goods, personal care and household items, and the eBay Plus benefits have been expanded to include double flybuys points, 25% off the first order, free delivery for orders over $49 from Coles and 10% off when members pick-up in-store.
“We are always looking for ways to make life easier for our customers,” said Alistair Jordan, Coles’ online chief executive. “By partnering with eBay, we are providing our customers another convenient way to access our products and have them delivered straight to their door.”
The Coles offer is available to eBay Plus members in metro Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
“Coles is one of Australia’s oldest and most trusted brands, so we’re excited to welcome them to eBay as they broaden their online channels. Both eBay and Coles share the vision of providing convenience, range and value to our customers and together we can make it even easier for Aussies to meet all their shopping needs in one place,” said Tim MacKinnon, MD of eBay Australia and NZ.
With ever-increasing competition from online retailers such as Amazon and Catch, eBay are working hard to differentiate themselves, and the Coles partnership may likely kill two birds with one stone, with Amazon set to enter the grocery delivery business. Things are certainly hotting up in the online retail space, and paid loyalty programs are a key weapon competitors are aggressively wielding.
Philip Shelper is a loyalty management consultant based in Sydney, Australia who obsesses about everything to do with loyalty and rewards. His company Loyalty & Reward Co are a leading loyalty consulting firm.
Phil is the author of Blockchain Loyalty: Disrupting loyalty and reinventing marketing using cryptocurrencies. Buy the book.
www.blockchainloyalty.io is a global resource centre for everything blockchain loyalty.
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