Australia's Retail Media Network
12 August 2025
Australia's Retail Media Network sector will be worth $3bn by 2027 (research from IPG Mediabrands and The Trade Desk). Coles Group (58%) and Cartology - Part of the Woolworths Group (47%) have the highest share.
Air New Zealand's Airpoints loyalty program
11 August 2025
The value of Air New Zealand's Airpoints loyalty program, in a study by Australian Frequent Flyer was ranked below several international schemes including Qantas, Qatar Airways, Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Etihad. Airpoints has 4.8 million members.
Qantas Classic Rewards Points Increase
11 August 2025
Qantas Frequent Flyer will raise the number of points required for Classic Reward flights by 5–20 per cent from today. Members will also earn up to 25% more points on domestic flights, and more Classic Reward seats are being added across the network.
ALL Accor+ Explorer Loyalty Program
11 August 2025
The Accor Plus travel loyalty subscription program in Asia-Pacific will transition to ALL Accor+ Explorer subscription from October 1, 2025. It includes ALL Accor Gold status in the Accor’s global loyalty program and other benefits including two free nights annually across Asia-Pacific, hotel discounts of between 15% and 50% and dining discounts of between 15% and 50%.
PartsPay Launch
07 August 2025
EonX Technologies has partnered with PartsCheck to launch PartsPay, a payments and loyalty solution for the AUD $9.7 billion automotive repair sector.
Qantas Frequent Flyer partners with Adairs Retail Group
07 August 2025
Qantas Frequent Flyer has partnered with homewares retailer Adairs Retail Group, enabling members to earn and use Qantas Points on purchases both in-store and online. The partnership will launch on 5 August. Over the past five years, the number of points members have earned through retailers has doubled, and Qantas anticipates this figure will double again by 2030 as it expands across more retail
Frequent Flyer points value to customers
06 August 2025
A review by Australian Frequent Flyer of the value of points to customers in frequent flyer programs found Qantas Frequent Flyer at 1.8c and Virgin Australia’s Velocity at 1.7c. Air New Zealand’s Airpoints ranked lowest at 1c per point.
Virgin Australia will introduce a new Platinum Plus tier
06 August 2025
Virgin Australia will introduce a new Platinum Plus tier to its Velocity Frequent Flyer program on 1 October 2025. Positioned above Platinum, the new level requires 2,000 Status Credits per year, including at least 1,500 earned on Virgin Australia flights. Velocity Platinum members (the tier below) will no longer have the option to gift Companion Platinum status to another Velocity member.
MECCA Brands new store
06 August 2025
MECCA Brands is opening a 4000-square-metre flagship store on Bourke Street, Melbourne, ten times the size of its typical location. The new site includes a hair salon, nail bar, treatment rooms, and Cafe Mecca, a hospitality concept featuring Lune Croissanterie Kate Reid, coffee from Seven Seeds Coffee Roasters, and French champagne. Beauty Loop members can earn points on services at the new store
SHEIKE New Loyalty Program
05 August 2025
SHEIKE has launched a new four tier loyalty program. Members earn points on purchases to unlock benefits. The program includes a digital membership card and a “Status Hold” feature, allowing members to retain their tier for up to 12 months during breaks
Commonwealth Bank's retail media network
04 August 2025
Commonwealth Bank's retail media network, CommBank Connect leverages 16 million customers, 8 million app users and 2,000 branch‑based digital screens. CommBank Connect launched in late 2024 as the country’s first banking retail media network and is part of a broader strategy that includes the bank wide loyalty program CommBank Yello.
The New Zealand Government surcharge ban
04 August 2025
The New Zealand Government plans to ban most in-store payment surcharges by May 2026 under a new bill targeting excessive fees. The move follows estimates that Kiwis pay $150 million annually in surcharges, including up to $65 million deemed excessive. The ban will apply to in-person payments using Visa, Mastercard and EFTPOS, but exclude online transactions, foreign-issued cards, and networks lik
TerryWhite Chemmart has expanded its Health Powered Retail Media platform, TWC Connect, across more than 620 pharmacies nationwide. The platform now enables omnichannel, data-driven campaigns backed by first-party data and retail integration. Analysts estimated retail media grew 26.5% in Australia in 2024, reaching $US1 billion for the first time, with forecasts of $US2.7 billion by 2029.
It's likely many of New Zealand's credit card loyalty programs will close or at the very least devalue significantly. Credit card loyalty programs are roughly half of all the loyalty funding in the New Zealand loyalty ecosystem. This is the second cut by the New Zealand regulator with the last being in 2022.
David Jones Retail Media Network
23 July 2025
David Jones is targeting ~$35 million annually from its 2 year old Retail Media Network; Amplify. Growth will be supported by more first-party data coming from the new loyalty program launching in September supported by a recently launched app.
Reflections Holidays Outsiders loyalty club
22 July 2025
Reflections Holidays increased its Outsiders loyalty club membership 20% between February 2024 and February 2025.
Z Energy New Loyalty Program
22 July 2025
Ampol owned Z Energy NZ replaced Flybuys after 20 years with its own program; Z Rewards. The supporting loyalty platform was built in under a year using Eagle Eye integrated to Salesforce, Invenco and Rush Digital.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is proposing to cap credit card interchange fees at 0.3%, down from 0.8%
21 July 2025
That's down from 0.8% currently and includes removal of it the weighted-average interchange benchmark of 0.5%. Banks warn this could dismantle loyalty and rewards programs and increase cardholder fees. One major bank is also considering withdrawing from Apple Pay.
Class action against Qantas over the cyber attack
21 July 2025
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers have filed a representative complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner against Qantas over the cyber attack that compromised the data of 5.7 million customers. It alleges Qantas failed to reasonably protect the data at it's Manila call centre.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has proposed a ban on surcharges (typically charged to recover the interchange fee, the acquirers margin and scheme fees from Visa and Mastercard). The RBA also plans to reduce interchange fees which could lead to reduced credit card rewards.
Members must opt in for marketing communications and can earn a $10 voucher for every whole $100 spent in a transaction (excludes shipping). The voucher is valid for 90 days before expiring and voucher redemption can only be applied on transactions over $100 (excluding shipping).
The program was launched in October last year across Just Group's brands Dotti, Jacqui E, Jay Jays, Just Jeans and Portmans and covered both New Zealand and Australia. Multi-brand retail loyalty programs are rare here and while Just Jeans had a previous offering - it didn't work across the rest of the Just Group brands
pub+ loyalty program
13 July 2025
Endeavour Group announced the pub+ points for discounts loyalty program in its 350 ALH Hotels venues in August 2024. ALH customers now complete between 2 and 3 transactions during their pub visits. Endeavour Group's Dan Murphy's MyDan's program now has 5.4 million active members and a scan rate of 80%.
Virgin Australia’s IPO prospectus
10 July 2025
Virgin Australia’s IPO prospectus outlines $550 million in planned transformation benefits by December 2026. Of this, 5% is expected to come from the Velocity Frequent Flyer loyalty program, with the remainder split between revenue and cost initiatives.
Smart Loyalty new partners
10 July 2025
Smart Loyalty has added 4 partners to its SmartTrade B2B coalition and launched a B2B loyalty program for Rinnai New Zealand Limited.
Qantas cyber attack
10 July 2025
Qantas has confirmed a major cyber attack affecting up to six million customers. Hackers accessed names, email addresses, dates of birth, and frequent flyer numbers, but not financial or passport details. The breach stemmed from a third-party platform used by Qantas contact centres.
Woolworths Group to close online retailer MyDeal
09 July 2025
Woolworths Group will close online retailer MyDeal on September 30 at a cost of about ~$100m (including payments for outstanding equity and staff redundancies). This follows Wesfarmers closing the Catch marketplace in April this year. Launched in 2011, MyDeal was acquired by Woolworths in September 2022 which now cites a lack of profitability in closing it.
Liquor Legends Rewards Program
08 July 2025
Liquor Legends hit one million rewards members last year.
New World NZ's Clubcard loyalty program cyber attack
08 July 2025
New World NZ's Clubcard loyalty program has been targeted in a cyber attack. Foodstuffs’ systems have not been breached but Foodstuffs have temporarily disabled the ability to redeem New World dollars on affected Clubcard accounts as a precaution