More Rewards has added a new Pay with Points option where you can redeem your points right at the till (or online) when shopping at Save-On-Foods, Price Smart Foods, Buy-Low Foods, Urban Fare, and Nesters Market. I would hazard a guess this move was prompted to be a response to Scene+ offering pay with points at Empire Company Limited stores such as Sobeys and Safeway.
The new Pay with Points option
More Rewards members now have the option to redeem 10,000 for $15 off their grocery bill at at Save-On-Foods, Price Smart Foods, Buy-Low Foods, Urban Fare, and Nesters Market. You can redeem in increments as well to cover more of your bill, for example 20,000 points for $30 off, 30,000 for $45 off and so on.
This can also be applied to online grocery shopping purchases although those require a minimum spend of $55 before taxes and are limited to only one redemption (ie $10).
Does this new redemption option represent a good value?
Not really. This new redemption option is one of the lowest in terms of cents per point value when compared to other rewards you can redeem for in the More Rewards program. With the Pay with Points option you redeem 10,000 points for $15 which equates to 0.15 cents ($0.0015) per point value.
The best redemption option with More Rewards are travel rewards and the value there is almost triple at 0.42 cents ($0.0042) per point:
However, if travel is not the type of reward you are looking for with More Rewards then the Pay with Points for groceries option is OK. There are still some other options that provide more value:
Here you can redeem for gas gift cards with a value of 0.208 cents per point and Chop or Denny’s at 0.25 cents per point. Many of More Rewards’ online gift card options work out to be in the 0.2 to 0.25 cents range. Again though, if these aren’t rewards you would typically go for then the Pay with Points for groceries is the next best option. And this is definitely the case now if you have been someone who has redeemed their points for grocery gift cards in store:
Those gift cards work out to a value of 0.143 cents per points which is marginally less than the 0.15 cents for Pay with Points but nonetheless the latter will net you 5% more value. So don’t go in-store to redeem for gift cards to use for your own groceries. Simply redeem your points at the till!
Wrapping it up
In general it is always good to have more redemption options within a loyalty program and that is what More Rewards is providing. With the primary way to earn More Rewards points being via shopping for groceries it only makes sense to have an option to redeem those points right at the till. This brings the program in line with their closest competitor, Scene+, in terms of earn and burn options at grocery stores but the value they provide may be a whole other ball game.
I will have to run the numbers but I feel Scene+ provides more value (primarily due to having their own credit cards) but then again More Rewards tends to have better in-store earning opportunities as they almost always have some sort of spend X get Y bonus points offer. Stay tuned, when I get chance I’ll run numbers to see how the two really compare.
Click here to learn more about More Rewards new Pay with Points option.
Images via More Rewards