Today is the day Scene+ officially launches with Sobeys and other Empire Company Limited stores in Atlantic Canada. The news which broke only a few short months ago came as a surprise to many and was a move that solidified Scene+ as a major nationwide loyalty program that isn’t just a movie going program.
As we detailed earlier in the year, the primary difference between earning AIR MILES and Scene+ points at Sobeys and all their other grocery stores is that there is not a base earn rate. You’ll only earn Scene+ points when you buy select items, receive bonus offers for spending a certain amount (you’ll usually find these offers in the flyer) and also via personalized offers.
Individual item bonus points
As AIR MILES members were accustomed to at Sobeys and PC Optimum members with Loblaw stores, you can earn bonus points each for buying specific items. You’ll find these bonuses printed in each weekly flyer and most likely will have some sort of bonus points tag in store as well:
As Joshua C. told us he likes how easy it is to calculate your return or the value of the bonus points. As most redemptions in the Scene+ program are 100 points to $1 you simply need to shift the decimal point two spots to the left on the bonus to know your value. If you get 400 bonus points for buying Lays potato chips, that’s a $4.00 return. It was a little tougher to calculate AIR MILES value due to the variable rates of redemption unless you were set for 100% Cash Mile in which case it is 10.5 cents per mile which still required more calculation to figure out value in comparison to Scene+
Additional bonus points offers
On top of the individual product offers there are or will be additional bonus offers available for Scene+ members. For example, during this launch week members can earn 200 points for spending $20 (That’s a low threshold!) or 1,500 points for spending $100 or more.
Personalized Offers
Just as Sobeys and other affiliated stores have/had personalized AIR MILES offers at getmyoffers.ca, the Scene+ Sobeys partnership also has these offers. They can be found at https://www.mygroceryoffers.ca/
Here is an example of some personalized offers provided to us by Joshua C.
If you are not in Atlantic Canada like myself, you’ll get the following pop up on mygroceryoffers.ca sending you to the old getmyoffers site to load AIR MILES offers.
Personalized offers image via Joshua C.
Scene+ Credit Card earn rates at Sobeys & other stores
As we also detailed earlier in the year, most Scene+ credit cards have received accelerated earn rates when you use them to purchase your groceries at Sobeys and affiliated stores. The earn rates are quite attractive with the ability to receive up to a 6% return! Here are those rates:
- Scotia Gold American Express Card 6X Scene+ points for each $1 CAD charged to your account on all eligible purchases1
at Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, FreshCo, Voilà by Sobeys, Voilà by
IGA, Voilà by Safeway, Chalo! FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, IGA West, Les
Marchés Tradition, Rachelle Béry and Co-Op. - Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card 3X Scene+ points for each dollar charged to your account on all eligible purchases1
at Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, FreshCo, Voilà by Sobeys, Voilà by
IGA, Voilà by Safeway, Chalo! FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, IGA West, Les
Marchés TradItIon, Rachelle Béry and Co-Op - Scotia SCENE Visa Card 2X Scene+ points for each dollar charged to your account on all eligible purchases1
at Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, FreshCo, Voilà by Sobeys, Voilà by
IGA, Voilà by Safeway, Chalo! FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, IGA West, Les
Marchés Tradition, Rachelle Béry and Co-Op. - Scotiabank American Express Card 3X Scene+ points for each dollar charged to your account on all eligible purchases1
at Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, FreshCo, Voilà by Sobeys, Voilà by
IGA, Voilà by Safeway, Chalo! FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, IGA West, Les
Marchés Tradition, Rachelle Béry and Co-Op.
Updated App
The Sobeys app has also been updated to show the various offers that members will be able to take advantage of at Sobeys and the other stores.
App image via Joshua C
Wrapping it up
The end of era is taking place as AIR MILES is slowly phased out from Empire Company stores in Canada to be replaced by Scene+. Those of you in Atlantic Canada can now start earning your Scene+ points at these locations that can then be used for some very flexible travel, grocery, movie and other redemptions. Despite not having a base earn rate, the overall ability to earn points looks pretty decent from this early indication of what they are offering in store. Add in the accelerated earn rates if you utilize a Scotia credit card and you are looking at racking up a lot of points for your everyday grocery needs.
All images via Sobeys unless otherwise noted