Flybuys goes AI: How you can get more frequent flyer points at Coles
Key takeaways
- Coles is ramping up its use of AI to generate personalised Flybuys offers for customers.
- 10 million Australians are now members of Flybuys.
- Converting Flybuys to Velocity Points gives more value than dollars-off deals.
Supermarket giant Coles says that artificial intelligence (AI) will be increasingly used to generate customised Flybuys bonus points offers, which offer cash-strapped Australians a chance to score more points.
"Flybuys continues to be very important and personalised offers are key," Coles CEO Leah Weckert said during a call to discuss Coles' half-yearly results.
"As we see AI coming in, we can be far more targeted in getting offers to customers that are much more relevant."
Coles often features offers in its Flybuys app which offer, say, 500 bonus points for buying a particular pasta sauce.
AI lets those offers be customised to be more relevant.
In other words, if I never buy dog food, showing me a dog food offer doesn't make much sense.
Weckert cautioned that eliminating "hallucinations", where AI suggested offers for non-existent products, was still a concern.
"We're definitely working on that, but when we [fully] launch it we want to get it right," she said.
Smarter ways to use Flybuys
During the media call, I asked Weckert if bonus points offers would remain a focus for the supermarket.
She replied that they were a critical component, especially with cost-of-living remaining a major concern.
"We are seeing customers seeking out bonus offers to get more points and trade those for dollars off," Weckert said.
"We have seen an uplift in Flybuys engagement and swipe rates".
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A whopping 10 million Australians are Flybuys members, up 6.2% in the last 6 months.
On paper, Coles only booked $1 million in revenue from its 50% ownership of Flybuys.
However, it's worth far more to the supermarket as it battles with Woolworths for supermarket dominance.
For shoppers, one of the sneakier ways to take advantage of that battle is to rack up as many points as possible.
That said, don't buy purely for a points offer if you don't need the product. Obvious, but it happens a lot.
It also makes sense to convert Flybuys into Velocity Points to maximise their value.
2,000 Flybuys points is worth $10 in cash off.
But if you convert those to 1,000 Velocity Points, they're worth $20 or more in flight redemptions by my calculations.
And reward flights on Virgin are generally much easier to score than on Qantas.
Sources
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