Best Buy Revamps Reward Zone
Best Buy has revamped its loyalty program Reward Zone, ditching its $10 registration fee, building two reward levels and adding a co-branded MasterCard. Best Buy used shopper feedback to restructure the three-year-old program, which has more than 7 million members.
“The changes we have made to the Reward Zone program directly address their requests,” said Senior VP-Marketing Barry Judge in a statement. “Reward Zone is a good example of how we listen to our customers and make meaningful changes in the Best Buy shopping experience.”
Basic-level members earn one point for every dollar they spend on qualifying purchases at Best Buy (in-store and online). Members also get exclusive deals, sweepstakes, events and offers for entertainment memorabilia. Shoppers can enroll online or in-store, and collect reward certificates via e-mail or standard mail.
The second tier of membership centers on the new Best Buy MasterCard, issued by HSBC. Cardholders are automatically enrolled in Reward Zone and earn up to 4% on Best Buy purchases (2% on all other purchases).
Best Buy boosted Reward Zone spending 18 months ago when it discontinued mail-in rebates and channeled those funds to its loyalty marketing program instead (PROMO P&I, April 13, 2005). Best Buy cited shoppers’ preferences at the time, but it shifted away from rebates just weeks after competitor CompUSA settled with the FTC over problems in its rebate fulfillment.
Minneapolis-based Best Buy’s Reward Zone revamp is the first major marketing shift under Judge, who took charge of Best Buy’s marketing in late August following the Aug. 17 departure of CMO Mike Linton (PROMO Xtra, Aug. 30, 2006). Judge, a database marketing pro who spearheaded the 2005 consolidation of Best Buy’s 17 databases into one with finer segmentation, had been senior VP-consumer brand marketing.
