Flybuys is an Australian customer loyalty program equally owned by the Coles Group and Wesfarmers through joint venture Loyalty Pacific. Members can accrue points by shopping at Coles Group brands (Coles Supermarkets, Liquorland, etc.), certain Wesfarmers brands (Kmart, Target, Bunnings Warehouse, Officeworks, catch.com.au, Kleenheat, etc.), and some third-party partners like HCF Health Insurance, Coles Express and Optus. Points can then be redeemed for money off purchases at Coles Supermarkets, Coles Express, Liquorland, Kmart, Officeworks, Target and mycar (2,000 points gives an discount), as well as holidays (through Flybuys Travel or Velocity Frequent Flyer) and household goods (from the Flybuys Rewards Store).
It is one of Australia's largest loyalty programs and has over 9 million members. Fifteen Flybuys cards are scanned every second on average in Australia.
History
Flybuys began in 1994 as a joint venture of Shell, Coles Myer and National Australia Bank. The program met with substantial interest at launch, with a million Australian households joining within the first six weeks.
Telstra joined the program in 1995 but withdrew after two years, having created the Telstra Visa Card with ANZ (later to become the ANZ Qantas Telstra Visa Card). In April 2012, Telstra rejoined Flybuys with points being offered for pre-paid services.
In 1996, Loyalty Pacific licensed the brand to a consortium in New Zealand, which began to operate a similar program, also called Flybuys.
In 1998, major changes were made to the program. The offer to members was diluted because the points currency was devalued to increase points required for rewards 20-fold (from a minimum 550 points to 11,000), but the issuing of standard points only increased fourfold (from 1 point for $20 to 1 point for $5). At the same time, Shell relinquished its one-third ownership of the program, although that was unnoticed by members as Shell continued to issue points through its company-owned service station network.
In 2003, the program was revamped, with the offer improved for members, with the issuing of standard points at participating Coles Group brands increased to 2 points for $5. That change was accompanied by revised branding and a minor name change from “Fly Buys” to “FlyBuys”.
In December 2006, Loyalty Pacific was cited as a potential purchaser of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program.
In February 2011, Coles acquired National Australia Bank's 50 per cent interest in Flybuys, with NAB remaining as a major participant in the program.
In April 2012, Coles announced a substantial relaunch of the program, with the issuing of points for major brands increasing to 1 point for $1, and AGL, Telstra and Webjet became new partners. Points no longer expired if members used their card or redeemed points at least once a year. New cards were sent to over 8 million households in Australia. At the same time, a new benefit was introduced, under which Flybuys members could obtain a 10% discount off five product categories of their choice.
A consumer study of Australian loyalty programs in 2013 showed that Flybuys was easily the most popular program in Australia.
In April 2018, Wesfarmers stated it would be demerging the Coles business, but it retained a substantial ownership stake in Flybuys.
In November 2018, Wesfarmers and Coles announced the appointment of John Merakovsky as chief executive officer of Flybuys.
In February 2022, Wesfarmers and Coles announced the appointment of Anna Lee as chief executive officer of Flybuys.
Collecting points
Flybuys points collection is directed largely at regular consumer purchases, and most points are issued by major Coles and Wesfarmers brands – food (Coles Supermarkets), fuel (Coles Express), discount department stores (Kmart, K Hub, Target and catch.com.au), and liquor (Liquorland and 1st Choice). Coles also offers points for members who take up Coles car or home insurance.
Additional points can be collected from transactions on the Coles MasterCard (issued by Citibank) or selected NAB credit cards, if they have been "linked" to a Flybuys membership. In some circumstances, that allows for one transaction to gain points from two sources: e.g. if a member pays for grocery purchases at Coles Supermarkets with a NAB credit card, both Coles and NAB would issue points for the one transaction.
Other brands which participate, but are not associated with the owners of Flybuys, include AGL, Optus, Budget Rent a Car and HCF.
In October 2012, Flybuys created the Flybuys Toolbar in conjunction with Yahoo!7, enabling members to collect points from their web searches.