Sears Tries Giving Away Rewards Points With Branded Credit Card Image courtesy of JeepersMedia
Sears Holdings, parent company of Kmart and Sears, is depending on the company’s Shop Your Way rewards program to save the company. It is a very nice rewards program, but is it enough to get customers to spend? Don’t most store cards come with special rewards or discounts?
The important thing is that by linking their Shop Your Way accounts and their Sears Mastercards (issued by Citi), shoppers will be able to earn extra points on purchases made anywhere, with some multipliers for certain categories, including for using the card at Sears and Kmart.
The multiplier deals include these categories, though all have to be “eligible purchases”:
5% back on gas
3% back on groceries
Gas and groceries combined have a $10,000 limit, after which you would earn 1% back in points.
2% back at Sears and Kmart stores
1% on anything else you buy
Sears Holdings is calling this a temporary program, which begins on Nov. 1 and lasts until Dec. 31, 2017.
“Enhancing Shop Your Way benefits for Sears MasterCard holders is the latest step in the evolution of the Shop Your Way program and is another example of how we are transforming Sears Holdings to focus on serving our members in a wide variety of ways,” manifesto-writing Sears Holdings CEO Eddie Lampert said in a statement that came with the announcement.
Shop Your Way is a really good rewards program, with points that are easy to cash out and easy to earn during promotion periods, but we’re still doubtful that it’s enough to save the entire company. At least it lets Lampert refer to “members” instead of “customers,” though, given his well-known dislike of retail jargon.
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