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Make your Christmas dollar go further

Lets face it you simply cannot avoid spending money come Christmas time. So if you are going to spend your hard earn cash why not get more bang for your buck and be rewarded for your patronage.

Many, many retailers offer rewards, discount plans or loyalty plans if you merely sign up or you can gain redeemable points for items purchased. There are tonnes of these reward and loyalty schemes on offer, and it costs you nothing.  So we decided to do a little research of our own to see where your dollar can be driven further at the typical shops you might frequent for Christmas gifts.

Accessories

Bevilles, www.bevilles.com.au. When you spend a minimum of $50 in one transaction, you will be entitled to Bevilles Eternity Club, where you can start earning points straight away. Through your membership you can earn one point for every dollar spent. These can be redeemed at any time of the year, including sale’s promotions.  Every point you accrue equates to $1. For example, earn 100 points and you have $100 to spend.

Gold Mark, www.goldmark.com.au, offers membership to G Club, where as a member you are entitled to enter Gold Mark competitions, win prizes like double movie passes, get jewellery give always, and much more. They also provide special discounts and offers, advance notice of sales, and invitations to special VIP nights. You can also earn G-Club points. For every dollar you spend, you receive one G-point.

Sign up to the Sunglasses Hut at www.sunglasshut.com.au and receive a $50 voucher off any sunglasses. Note the voucher is only valid for eight weeks after registration, with a minimum spend of $150 and is subject to other terms and conditions.

Beauty

Sign up to the Perfume Connection VIP club at www.perfumeconnection.com.au and you will automatically receive a $5 voucher. You will need to spend more than $85 to redeem your $5 voucher. Stores are located all around Australia.

The hair warehouse, www.hairhousewarehouse.com.au, will provide customers with 10% off for life. All you need to do is purchase any retail product to receive a loyalty card. Present this card in store to receive 10% off all future retail purchases. Trade professionals are entitled to receive a 15% discount on all products.  

When you spent $50 or more with L’Occitane, you will receive a stamp to go on one of their stamp cards. When you collect 10 stamps, you will be entitled to 15% off their stock. www.loccitane.com.au

Crabtree and Evelyn offer a “Privilege Card”, to become a Privilege Card Holder you need to spend $300 within three months. Purchases are tracked on a paper card, which is replaced with a laminated card that entitles you to 10% off full priced merchandise and 20% off on special VIP allocated days/ weeks from any Crabtree & Evelyn retail store in Australia. To maintain the cards benefits you will need to make one purchase a year from Crabtree and Evelyn. www.crabtree-evelyn.com.au.

Books

Dymocks run a Booklover Loyalty Program where you can earn and redeem points. You will earn five points for every dollar you spend. Points accumulate on your Booklover Loyalty Card every time you shop and can be redeemed on your next purchase. For example, when you spend $100, you can earn 500 points, which allows you to redeem $5 off your next purchase. Register online and receive regular email updates.

www.bordersbooks.com.au Subscribe to the Shortlist email newsletter and get the latest discounts on books, music, and DVDs delivered to your inbox.

Car Parking

If you need to travel to the city to do your Christmas shop, consider joining Club Secure at www.secureparking.com.au for free, where you can get access to member only parking rates. Once you have activated your membership, the discounts and special offers begin right away. You will be able to access lists the various parking discounts available at your preferred locations. You will need to print off your Club Secure coupon to validate the coupon and, to receive your discounted rate, you will need to present it upon payment.

Clothing

By joining Jacqui E VIP you will receive monthly updates on their latest collection, exclusive offers, competitions and, best of all, a 15% off welcome voucher. You will only have six weeks to redeem your voucher, and it is subject to terms of use, so make sure you choose the best time and read the fine print.

To become a member of Portmans E-Port and receive monthly newsletters, promotions, offers, and updates on special events, simply fill in the registration form online at www.portmans.com.au. Your e-port membership card will be sent to your postal address up to 14 days later. As an e-port member Portmans offer 15% off your first purchase. Simply take your e-port card and welcome letter to your nominated Portmans store to collect your 15% off voucher.

Country Road offer two tier rewards. Spending up to $750 per year will entitle you to special offers, free basic tailoring on full price suits, and be first to know about the new seasons range. However, if you spend $750 or more per year, you will receive in addition to the above, gift vouchers, gift with purchase offers, as well as free gift-wrapping in Country Road stores.

If you spend $300 on full price stock with Esprit within three consecutive months you will be entitled to an Esprit discount card, which entitles you to 15% off full priced stock. Note you need to hold on to your receipts to prove you have met the purchase threshold. www.esprit.com.au.

You will need to visit your local Sussans store to sign up for membership. Membership is free, and you will earn a point for every $1 spent. You will be entitled to a $50 voucher when you reach 500 points.

Craft

As a member of Club Lincraft, every time you present your Club Lincraft card at purchase, whether in-store or online, you can earn points, one point for every $1 spent. When you have earned in excess of 250 points, you will be sent a credit voucher.  

Department stores

MYER One is awarded to Myer’s loyal customers. The program is open to all Myer customers, but requires a minimum per annum spend of $1,500 to receive full membership benefits. Members will receive shopping credits on all their purchases, which are converted into MYER One gift cards, which are sent out quarterly or whenever a reward level has been achieved. For every 1250 Shopping Credits a member earns in a quarter, they will receive $25 on a MYER One Gift Card.

Entertainment

Membership is free to the ABC Shop rewards when you make an initial purchase over $20. As a member you can earn reward points each time you make a purchase from an ABC Shop, which you can redeem against future purchases. In addition, receive access to benefits and offers exclusive to Reward members, such as double reward bonus point offers, monthly e-newsletters for updates on all your favourite ABC products and programs, invitations to special events, hot offers, and brand new releases.

Indulge

Darrell Lea loyalty program provides customers with a free gift from Darrell Lea after receipt of five stickers on their indulgence card. You can earn a sticker each time you spend over $10 at a participating Darrell Lea store. Once you fill your card with five stickers, you are entitled to select $5 of Darrell Lea product (alternatively you can deduct $5 from your next purchase). However, when you reach the next target and fill your card with an additional five stickers (10 in total), you are entitled to $10 of your favourite products (alternatively you can deduct $10 from your next purchase).

Sign up to become a member of Vintage Cellars Wine Club, its free and entitles you to a Membership Card where you can earn points through your liquor purchases. Every liquor purchase you make at Vintage Cellars using your Membership Card counts towards earning you “Cellar Shares”. Once your progressive points tally reaches 500 points, you will earn a Cellar Share. Which can be redeemed in-store - exchanging them for a superb selection of quality Australian and imported fine wines, beers, spirits and accessories. You can choose to redeem any Cellar Share at any time within 2 years of the date of issue, so if you want to accumulate them and aim for bigger rewards, you have plenty of time to do so.

Manchester

Sign up to become a member of Holy Sheet and you will receive their brochure, monthly email advising special offers, and your own Holy Sheet card for use in their stores to earn reward points. The more you buy, the greater the rebate. www.holysheet.com.au

Adairs offers a two-year membership to their Linen Lovers club for only $27.50. Members receive 10% off all full price merchandise, 5% off any reduced catalogue merchandise, and exclusive offers and invitations to our Linen Lovers only promotions and events.

Shoes

Sign up to Footlocker at www.footlocker.com.au, and you will receive a Footlocker card that will provide you with access to special offers exclusive to Club members. Upon signing up to Footlocker, you will receive 10% off purchases when you present your Footlocker Club Card.

Membership to the Wittner VIP Soul Club is free to everyone who qualifies. To qualify, simply make three shoe or bag purchases within six months. Upon successful qualification, you are provided Club level membership status for twelve months. Membership entitles you to a 10% discount on all full priced lines, whilst earning 20 Soul points for every $100 you spend in-store. If you accumulate 200 Wittner Soul points during your membership year, your membership status will be upgraded, and you will be issued with a new card for a further twelve months, giving you the exclusive benefit of 15% off full priced purchases and a 5% discount on all reduced lines.

Toys

www.thekidstoystore.com.au host a loyalty programme that provides a great way for repeat customers to earn great discounts on their future purchases. Your first purchase from The Kids Toy Store, will accrue 10 points for every $10 you spend. Once you reach 500 points, you will automatically become a member of their exclusive 'Platimum Club'. Where you will be entitled to receive a permanent 10% discount off full priced items for life. Platinum Club Members also receive exclusive special offers and will be the first to hear about new and exciting products the store

Other

Pulse™ is a rewards program that provides achievable rewards, bonuses, massive discounts, instant and major prizes, promotions and VIP privileges. The Pulse program runs through a number of large retail chains all over Australia, including Dusk, Virgin Myer, Virgin Entertainment, Sanity, HMV, Bras n Things and IN2 Music. As a member of pulse you accumulate points from your purchases made at participating Pulse retailers, $1 spent = 1 Pulse point. Once you have 100 points you will receive your first $5 reward voucher. The $5 reward voucher can be used on any subsequent purchase of $20 or more at any of the Pulse participating retailers. For more information go to www.pulserewards.com.au.

Nevertheless, it is wise to consider, especially with points plans, whether you will regularly buy from the vendor. If you don’t already use such products or services, there is little point spending your hard earned cash on products or services just to get the points.

With most of these plans, the vendor gains by building up an email database of potential customers to whom he can directly advertise. You get the benefit of being the first to hear about great bargains, but it is a good idea to create a separate email account; otherwise your regular account could soon become bombarded with “junk mail”.

It is also a good idea to read the fine print. Even with the loyalty and reward programs we have listed below, there are terms and conditions. To maximise your shopping dollars you need to be clear about how you will be rewarded. There may be conditions on the use of the rewards, such as expiration dates. In that case you need to pick and choose when you sign up for certain rewards. For instance, if you have budgeted to purchase a new pair of sunnies, come the next summer, it is pointless signing up for a $50 gift voucher that will expire in eight weeks.

If you know of any more to be added to this list please let us know, click here.

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