This past October London Drugs, the Western Canadian drug store chain launched their own loyalty program called LDExtras. It seemed to launch without much fanfare outside of their own stores. We were in fact made aware of the program when Canadian Grocer magazine contacted us for an interview about the program! Since that time, my family has joined the program as we shop at London Drugs semi-frequently and if you work the program right the return can be pretty decent.
The program is quite simple, you simply create an account either online, in-store or via the app and utilize your phone number as your account number. There is no plastic card to carry which is nice these days!
The program has no points to collect, rather they track your 'visits' and a visit is anytime you spend $10 or more on eligible products each day at a London Drugs store.
Once you collect enough 'visits' you unlock your Extras, hence the name LDExtras!
The best part out of the extras is the $5 Gift Voucher you earn with every 10 visits. This is where your math skills come in. 10 visits at $10 each means you have to spend $100 to get the $5 voucher. That is a 5% return. That's a pretty decent return and does not include any points or miles you earn on the credit card you use for those purchases. We'd recommend cards that have a drug store multiplier like the
American Express Gold Rewards Card,
TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card or the
Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card (and a host of others). If you grab prescriptions at London Drugs then you'll accelerate that earn with the bonus visit when you fill it. Of course if you spend more than $10 each day your return is eroded but chances are you are buying things you need and would have bought anyways at London Drugs so it is nice to get something back no matter the rate of return.
Of course there are other benefits that worth noting like the $5 voucher awarded on your birthday, the extended returns (a la TJX Style) and the photolab discounts. The remainder of the Extras are kind of
meh like computer virus checks and camera firmware upgrades.
It is nice to see London Drugs join the loyalty space but we don't know how popular this will be. Years ago when Rexall left Aeroplan we along with some of our readers had hoped that perhaps London Drugs would become an Aeroplan partner but that is obviously not the case now! There are pros and cons of launching your own loyalty program versus joining a coalition program like Aeroplan. Looks like London Drugs has done their due diligence and thought it best to move ahead with their own program with cash back as its primary reward.
What do you think of London Drugs new program? Are you utilizing it already or if not are you going to check it out and join? Let us know!
To learn more about London Drugs LDExtras and to join the program check it out here.
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