Fly Buys (Australia) - History

History

flybuys began in 1994 as a joint venture of Shell, Coles Myer (now Wesfarmers) and National Australia Bank. The program met with substantial interest at launch, with a million Australian households joining within the first six weeks.

Telecom Australia (now 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 has operated a similar program since (see Fly Buys (New Zealand)).

In 1998, major changes were made to the program. The offer to members was diluted as the points currency was devalued to increase points required for rewards 20-fold (from a minimum 550 points to 11,000), but standard points issuance 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 this was unnoticed by members as Shell continued to issue points through its service station network.

In 2003, the program was revamped, this time with the offer improved for members, with standard points issuance for participating Coles Group brands increased to 2 points for $5. This 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 (changing the brand from "FlyBuys" to "flybuys") with points issuance for major brands increasing to 1 point for $1, and introduced AGL, Telstra and Webjet as new partners. Expiry of points was removed for members who used their card or redeemed at least once a year. It sent new cards to over 8 million households in Australia and also introduced a benefit by which flybuys members could gain a 10% discount off five product categories of their choice.

In October 2012, Yahoo!7 and Coles joint-ventured to create the flybuys Toolbar. You earn 1 point per 2 searches with a maximum of 100 points in a calendar month.