September 2009 Archives

Rite Aid is planning to jump into the drugstore rewards program business next year, taking on Walgreens' Register Rewards and CVS' Extra Care Bucks, with a new program of their own that they'll start beta-testing soon.

In a call with Rite Aid's stock analysts about their quarter ending 8/29 (see the full transcript on SeekingAlpha), Rite Aid says that, "We’ve launched additional promotions in the front end to encourage return shopping trips. We will soon begin a test in a group of pilot stores of our new loyalty program which we believe will differentiate us because of its emphasis on pharmacy. While we don’t expect it to impact sales this year, we believe we have developed an exciting program that will drive sales when launched nationwide next year...Our new comprehensive pharmacy loyalty program will be in test in a small group of stores in the next few weeks."

Rite Aid is losing money, but not as badly as this time last year. They're forecasting lower sales than expected this fiscal year due to the economy. They need something to boost them back into the black and they're hoping this new program will do that.

In the meantime, they have some "initiatives designed to reward customer loyalty like our rake in the savings program we have going this fall."

The decision to set themselves apart from the competition with a focus on pharmacy loyalty is a terrible idea. If they're looking to lure Walgreens and CVS customers away to them, they have to offer AT LEAST what their competition does -- with the freebies available on everyday items there and the thought process of "Oh, while I'm there, I'll fill this prescription," what's going to make their competitors' customers want to make an additional stop at Rite Aid? Rite Aid's pharmacy rewards will have to be really friggin' amazing to change those people's behavior.

And fans of CVS and Walgreens are out there in the blogosphere, singing their favorite stores' praises. A Google blog search for CVS pulled up over 1.8 million results, for Walgreens, almost 600,000 results. How many people are talking about Rite Aid? Around 250,000.

If people aren't talking about your brand, they're not thinking about it. Rite Aid needs a strategy that gets people talking, that gets enthusiastic brand evangelists actively marketing for them. Will a rewards program that pushes only (or primarily) prescriptions fill the bill? I don't think so.

If you have caps from Powerade bottles, head on over to MyCokeRewards today -- they're doubling point values, on Powerade ONLY, all day long!

Techcrunch and TheAlarmClock.com are reporting that Alice.com (aff) has raised an additional $4 million in funding from investors (following an initial $4.3 million investment last November). This is the direct-to-consumer website founded by former Jellyfish (later Microsoft Live Cashback, now Bing Cashback) founders Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire.

I'm a fan of Alice, although my experience with it hasn't been completely smooth: once I received a shipment of food-type items that were nearly to expiration (they subsequently implemented a "Clearance" notation to let shoppers know which products are close to their expiration dates), and on my most recent order, although the liquids in my order had their lids taped down and they were sealed in a ziploc bag, the detergent still managed to leak out of the bag and into the box with the other items in my order. Both times, Alice's customer service was outstanding -- I used the Live Chat feature and immediately chatted with a friendly and apologetic CS employee who offered to resend the items or issue a credit on a future order.

While their grocery prices aren't Walmart-cheap, I find them competitive with my corner grocery and a lot more convenient, particularly considering their policy to ship orders of 6+ items for free. If I know my schedule is full for the week and I don't want to try to fit in a run to the store, I'll place an order of toilet paper, paper towels, and whatever else I absolutely have to have for the weekend on a Monday or Tuesday and it'll be there by Friday.

If you're not a hardcore couponer that "rolls over" Extra Care Bucks or Register Rewards to get free health and beauty items at the drug store chains, you may find these items pretty competitively priced on Alice.com after the ecoupons are deducted. For instance, a bottle of Suave shampoo is $.60 after the ecoupon is applied. That's a nice price for those of us who are not organized or dedicated enough to maximize savings with the drugstore rewards programs.

If you're short on time, or on couponing skills/initiative, Alice is a service you'll use and appreciate. Congrats to the former Jellyfish guys on obtaining this second round of financing...as usual, it looks like they've found a winning concept!

Ebates (aff) got a nice write-up in the Washington Times today: "Ebates.com links shoppers, store sites -- Coupons in a click."

In the article, Ebates CEO Kevin Johnson says that 8% of Ebates shoppers are millionaires, people who can afford to pay full price but don't choose to. Making smart financial choices is probably part of the reason they're millionaires in the first place, I would think. The median income of Ebates' shoppers is $75,000.

Johnson says that the average Ebates cashback check is $120. That's for 3 months of cashback shopping, as they pay quarterly. I'm surprised that it's that high (especially these days), but maybe the average is skewed by a couple of big corporate shoppers. He did say that this quarter they cut their largest Big Fat Check ever, in the amount of $41,000! That check obviously didn't go to one of the $75K median income households.

While the article sings Ebates' (well-deserved, IMHO) praises, it does finally acknowledge that they're not the only ones hooking up shoppers with cashback, mentioning Upromise (aff) and Bing Cashback.

It erroneously states that Upromise account earnings are added to a tax-free college savings account or that they go toward paying off student loans "instead of sending the cash directly to the shopper." In actuality, the cashback from Upromise sits in your Upromise account until you choose what to do with it...which CAN be a transfer to a 529 college savings plan or toward an outstanding student loan, but it can ALSO be paid to the member by check.

The article also fails to mention -- and I really think it should, since the article is subtitled "Coupons in a click" -- the fact that Bing Cashback does not permit the use of online coupon codes. (Yes, I know that sometimes people do get credited for Bing cashback when using coupons, but it varies by the policy of each Bing merchant and they say in general not to use coupon codes with Bing.)

Ebates' CEO Johnson acknowledges that it hasn't entered the arena of offering grocery coupons yet, and I think the article should have mentioned a couple of websites that have the edge on them in that regard: MyPoints (aff) and QuickRewards.net (aff). These programs provide printable coupons for $.40 - $5 off groceries and health/beauty items in-store, and they also provide a small incentive to their members to print the coupons through their websites.

All in all, I think it was a fair representation of how cashback sites work, though, and I hope that it will encourage readers to go online and find out more about the savings they're missing.

The faithful deal detectives over at SlickDeals.net have put together a great, updated listing of search terms you can use on Bing.com to trigger higher cashback rates (vs. their standard rates listed on the Bing Cashback site).

The SlickDeals folks are totally on top of Bing Cashback so I'm going to defer to them for the latest but as of this writing, they're reporting the following:

35% cashback at Ebags: search Bing.com for samsonite
25% cashback at Drugstore.com: search Bing.com for roomba
15% cashback at TigerDirect: search Bing.com for hdd
15% cashback at Circuit City: search Bing.com for circuit city
12% cashback at Overstock: search Bing.com for overstock
11% cashback at Adorama: search Bing.com for crumpler
8% cashback at Ebay: search Bing.com for used stuff

And there are others listed as well. Note: if you use coupon codes when shopping through Bing Cashback, you run a large risk of invalidating your cashback. If the coupon exceeds the cashback, try to combine them (you know you'll at least get credit for the coupon)...but don't get all indignant if your cashback doesn't come. ;)

Fraudsters beware: Ebates.com (aff) has implemented a new technology that "pierces the proxy" to fight fraud. It's called ThreatMatrix, and in a press release on Thursday, Ebates CEO Kevin Johnson and ThreatMatrix CEO Reed Taussig discuss the fraud issue and what Ebates is doing to address it.

The first and most obvious form of fraud is the use of stolen credit card numbers to make purchases at Ebates' merchants. That's one of the reasons they require members to wait through a "return period" before cashback rewards are sent out -- in the hopes that before they pay cashback out to someone who used a stolen credit card, the cardholder will discover the theft and have the charges reversed. (Better then than AFTER Ebates has paid the thief the cashback!)

But Ebates also offers members a $5 bonus for referring a friend to the program, so there is also some potential for abuse there if people try to create fake accounts to take advantage of the bonuses.

Ebates apparently had some fraud prevention methods in place, for example to catch rebate checks being mailed out to referral abusers. But they also have a cashout option to PayPal which no doubt has made catching cheaters more difficult. This new ThreatMatrix software allows them to identify computers through the maze of "proxy servers" they use to try to conceal their identity...and stop scammers from registering for Ebates in the first place.

There's a whole case study on this posted on ThreatMatrix's website here. Interesting reading. Glad to hear that one of my favorite rewards programs is taking aggressive action to fight fraud. Ebates has been around since 1998 and I hope they'll be around for a lot longer...at least until Google buys them out so they can compete with Bing! ;)

According to a press release on Tuesday by college savings/rewards program Upromise (aff), members of their program have earned $500 million through the use of their program.

Upromise was founded in 2001 and has over 11 million members. Members can earn money in their Upromise account by shopping online at over 650 popular online merchants, by registering their grocery and drugstore loyalty cards with the program and buying specific items (instead of coupons being deducted at the register, the savings are deposited into the member's Upromise account), by using the Upromise World Mastercard, and in other ways as well.

I always advise Upromise members to avoid downloading the TurboSaver toolbar, or any toolbar at all in fact. It may interfere with your ability to receive cashback from other rewards programs and at the very least, it violates at least some amount of your privacy as it tracks your browser activity.

Nice program, pretty decent cashback rates in my annual cashback analysis (due to be revised soon...stay tuned!).

Restaurant.com issued a 90% off coupon code today, NINETY, which is good for 99 hours in honor of the date 09/09/09. If you're just finding CompareRewards.com from my mention in the Restaurant.com press release about the sale, welcome to the site! I talk about cashback shopping rewards programs here, and if you're wondering how to make the Restaurant.com 90% off deal even better, you've come to the right place!

Who rewards for Restaurant.com? These are the rewards programs with the highest cashback rates for them:

QuickRewards.net (aff) -- 25%
MrRebates.com (aff) -- 25%
Fatwallet.com -- 20%
Upromise (aff) -- 17%
Ebates.com (aff) -- 15%
Extrabux.com (aff) -- 13%

All six of these programs, in addition to having very good cashback rates overall, have excellent reputations for reliably paying their rewards as promised. QuickRewards.net pays your cashback fastest (typical time between shopping and receiving PayPal, if you cash out immediately, is about a week) because they waive the 60-day return period that other sites require. [In the interest of fair disclosure, I run the shopping blog for QR at QRDeals.com.]

All are solid rewards programs that have been around for years, though, and I've shopped through, and been paid by, each one.

While the general rule is, "Only use a coupon code you obtain from the rewards program through which you're shopping, otherwise it may invalidate your cashback reward," it's my understanding that NINETY is a universal code which should be available to all Restaurant.com affiliates.

Thanks for stopping by CompareRewards.com! I hope you find some useful information on the site; please email me if you have any questions or if I can provide other program recommendations to you. Also, you can sign up to receive updates by email of new posts on CompareRewards (you can unsubscribe at any time...I hate unwanted email, too)!

Ebates (aff) has a pretty clever promotion starting today and running through 9/14. They're calling it "Man Week" and they're increasing their cashback rates on eight stores that you'd traditionally associate more with guys. The increases are as follows: Cabelas (from 2 to 4%), Bass Pro (from 4 to 6%), Men's Wearhouse (from 4 to 8%), Hanes (from 4 to 8%), The Home Depot (from 3 to 5%), Champion (from 5 to 10%), Lumber Liquidators (from 2 to 5%), and Omaha Steaks (from 3 to 6%).

If you're not a member of Ebates yet, they'll give you a $5 bonus when you join and place your first order through their links to any of their hundreds of merchants. Please join here -- thanks!

Hi! If you're just finding CompareRewards.com for the first time, thanks to Gregory Karp's article in today's Chicago Tribune, "Christmas shopping: Move up your buying season to Labor Day," let me welcome you to the site!

I think the advice given in the article is spot-on: pace yourself! There are some amazing bargains available right now, and if you start shopping early, by the time Black Friday's here, you'll already have quite a bit stockpiled!

What I provide here on CompareRewards, and I've been at this for 8 years now, is reviews, news, and tips on online shopping rewards programs -- sites that pay you cashback (or points redeemable for gift cards) when you shop through THEIR link to the same popular big-name retailers you were going to shop at anyway. For instance, instead of going straight to Target.com or Sears.com, you would go to the rewards program's website first and then click through to Target or Sears from there. They get a commission for referring your sale, and they share it with you (the cash or points mentioned above).

I do an annual comparison of how these programs compare with one another -- will be starting work on this years' version in about a month, but for a general benchmark, you may want to see last year's analysis here. The best programs overall last year included Microsoft Live Cashback (renamed Bing Cashback earlier this year), Citibank's ThankYou Points program (only available to Citibank customers), Extrabux (aff), MrRebates (aff), and FatWallet.

Expect to save anywhere between 1% and 30% cashback when you shop through a rewards site, with even greater savings than that through the use of the coupon codes many of these sites provide.

If you have any questions about these sites, how they work, or which one would be best for you, this is a subject I'm passionate about and I'd love to help if you want to send me an email!

Thanks for visiting today and please bookmark the site, or better yet, sign up for email updates here (you can unsubscribe at any time)!

I posted about Alice.com back in June -- they're an online grocery store that applies manufacturers' coupons electronically to your purchases so you don't have to clip 'em, and they ship orders of 6 items or more for free.  At this point, there aren't any rewards programs paying cashback on Alice.com purchases but that's something I hope will change soon.

Here's my original post about Alice if you missed it.  The specific deals I posted about then may or may not still be live but I can tell ya that right now some great deals on Alice.com include Lady Speed Stick deodorant for $.58, Huggies 64 ct baby wipes for $1.30, Bounty Basic paper towels for $.59, and more!

They're doing a "Neighborhood Chat" tonight on Alice and all attendees who send a message to the chat host (Rebecca) get a free Alice tee!  I got mine after the last chat.  Also, if you RSVP here (you need to have an Alice.com profile to RSVP so join Alice.com first here if you don't have an account), you'll be entered to win a door prize during the chat for one of three $10 Alice GCs!  (Only 16 RSVPs as I type this so your odds are pretty darned good!)

Come say hi to me in chat tonight!  (My Alice profile name is CompareRewards.)  The topic of the chat is back-to-school!  There will be some helpful folks there to answer any questions you may have about the site, too.  Hope to see you there!

MyCokeRewards has a couple of snail-mailed gift card redemptions up if you (like me) prefer to cash out for them: $5 Subway gift cards are 140 points, and $10 Chili's gift cards are 280 points. Both are limit one per member.

MCR does allow multiple accounts per household, so if your spouse or child or roommate wants to sign up, that's acceptable within the rules, which state, "An individual must have a unique valid e-mail address to create an account. Limit 1 Account per person, 5 Accounts per household and 10 Accounts per physical address." It also says participants must be 13 or older.

Please don't abuse this, folks. Although a 2 year old dog would be 14 in dog years, please don't sign up Spot. Thanks. :) [exits soapbox]

Very slick ad, and Bing Cashback is nice, but it's far from revolutionary or even unique. Let's give credit where it's due: Ebates (aff) was the first online cashback shopping portal, way back in 1998, consistently in operation since then, paying cashback reliably, AND providing coupon codes combinable with their cashback rewards.

Many competitors have joined the fray since '98 -- see the sidebar on the main CompareRewards.com page for reviews of a couple dozen online shopping rewards programs...and these don't even include reviews of cashback reward credit cards. And while Bing's cashback rates are quite good -- highest overall in my 2008 cashback rate analysis -- there are others with very competitive rates, like Extrabux (aff), FatWallet, and MrRebates (aff), and still others that pay cashback much faster, like QuickRewards.net (aff), where you can shop, have your cashback awarded, and cash it out to PayPal all in the same week...instead of having to wait 60 days at Bing.

I will give Bing/Microsoft this: I don't know of another online shopping rewards program that has rolled out a slick, national advertising campaign no doubt in the multi-million dollar price range like Bing's. If someone was completely ignorant of the fact online shopping cashback sites existed, Bing did a great job of educating them. And I've heard a good deal of anecdotal evidence that people tend to stick with the first rewards program they join. So...Bing may find the TV spots to be a worthwhile investment.

And hey, maybe one day they'll actually keep some of the commission they're earning from their merchants for sales made through Bing, rather than passing 100% of it on to the shopper. Operating Bing Cashback at a loss to encourage the use of its search engine is a strategy that can only last so long: we learned from Bing's decision to end their double-cashback promo early that even Microsoft's "generosity" (called by some "splendidly commercial bribery") has limits.

[Thanks to my good friend Dennis for help with this post.]

Today I came across an interesting interview on SmartPlanet with Hal Brierley, inventor of the first frequent flier program (AAdvantage from American Airlines) and currently the CEO of the e-Miles program.

E-Miles' model only charges advertisers when members show proof of engagement -- they have to view an offer and then answer 5 questions about it before they earn a reward (and at that point, the advertiser is charged). I found it interesting that Brierley says that e-Miles decided on the 5 miles per offer award because they didn't find a better response rate when offering a higher amount -- not even when they offered triple that.

He says that e-Miles (launched in November 2006) has over 2 million members with an average age of 42, 75% home owners, 75% college graduates, with a $100,000+ income. And oddly enough, e-Miles' biggest challenge, says Brierley, is finding advertisers (a complaint recently shared by competitor YouData).

This is something I just don't understand. I don't know YouData's average demographic but at least in the case of e-Miles, these are THE PEOPLE whose attention most companies would kill to get. And Brierley says that the "paying customers for their attention" model has proven to be successful in increasing brand awareness and intent to purchase.

I think corporations are totally missing an opportunity here. Rather than blowing through their marketing budget by paying for search engine placement, broadcast, print, and banner ads, companies have the opportunity with sites like e-Miles and YouData to target ads to specific demographics, to ONLY pay when the consumer is engaged with the message, and to make consumers/potential customers feel that their opinions and time are valued...a reward that (one would hope) would lead to brand recognition, goodwill, and loyalty.

In a recession, can corporations really afford to NOT try out a promising new marketing avenue?