Flybuys, New Zealand’s most popular loyalty programme, is bidding farewell to nearly 3 million of its happy members by end of this year.
In a surprise announcement this morning, Flybuys emailed a notice to their members of the closure of the Flybuys programme, and a short announcement was put on their website as well.
“Today, we are announcing that Flybuys will be saying goodbye to New Zealanders at the end of the year, after nearly 30 years of operation. The Flybuys programme has been a big part of many New Zealander’s lives and it has been a privilege to help Kiwis save money and enjoy rewards from their favourite brands.
“We are hugely grateful and we thank you for the support we have received from our Flybuys members over the past 28 years. ”
In a statement today (Thursday), Lizzy Ryley, chief executive of Loyalty NZ -the company that administers Flybuys, said the landscape for loyalty programmes had changed.
“The Flybuys model of a services and retailer alliance has run its course, so will close at the end of this year,” she said.
“Thank you to all our members who have supported Flybuys over many years. It’s been a privilege to be part of so many Kiwi’s lives.”
Flybuys has 2.9 million members across nearly 80 percent of New Zealand households.
Flybuys was initially launched in September 1996 as a travel rewards programme and members could earn points for flying on Air New Zealand and Ansett.
As loyalty programmes were rare at that time, Flybuys was an instant hit with nearly 250,000 applying for membership within the first fortnight.
Today members collect Flybuys and redeem reward points when they shop with partner organisations, that include stores like New World, Noel Leeming, helloworld Travel, Pet Cover, Liquorland, or fuel discounts from Z and Caltex.
Members can still earn Flybuys across their partner network until 11.59pm on 31st October, and they have until 11.59pm on 31st December to redeem their Flybuys Points.
New World -one of the partner organisations, have reassured members that after midnight 31 October, “New World Dollars will continue on for Clubcard members.”
Members wishing to log in to Flybuys website experienced difficulties as the website was temporarily down this afternoon.