- By: News
- 0 comment
- Loyalty schemes continue to use South Africa’s high petrol price to lure or entrench more customers.
- There are now at least 12 fuel reward programmes in South Africa, including from pharmacies, banks, insurance companies, supermarkets, and filling stations.
- Some are better than others, and all come with caveats – including being tied to specific petrol station brands and only being able to spend rewards at certain outlets.
- This makes picking a single winner for all motorists impossible – though it’s slightly easier if you choose within categories like filling station brand, simplicity, and reward method.
- Even for reward programme cynics, given our spend at the pumps, this may be the one loyalty card to carry.
- For more stories, go to www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
South Africa’s petrol price remains stubbornly high and is unlikely to drop significantly anytime soon. And demand for fuel isn’t going anywhere, either – even as South Africans grapple with the high cost of living.
Businesses in South Africa know fuel is a significant and unrelenting grudge purchase for their customers, which is why many continue to use fuel rewards to lure new customers via loyalty schemes.
But most aren’t as spectacular as they first appear – or as the companies want you to think they are in their advertising campaigns.
That’s because the slew of companies offering fuel-related loyalty rewards has everything to do with getting you to sign up for their products, share your personal information, or increase your loyalty towards their brand – and little to do with significant concern for your bottom line.
That said, many offer decent rewards for an unavoidable expense – and knowing which loyalty programme suits your needs and habits, and using it to its limits, can save you a few hundred rand each month.
Understanding and maximising some programme benefits is incredibly difficult – traditionally, those operated by banks and insurance companies are the most unnecessarily complex and sometimes misleading.
But for those who don’t want to sign up for new bank cards or insurance products, align themselves with behavioural requirements, or lose sleep over points, tiers, and percentage discounts, the simpler flat rate discount programmes are still quite compelling – if only to get a few cents back for every litre of fuel bought.
Central to all fuel reward programmes in South Africa is their alignment to one, or occasionally two, filling station brands.
This means going through the processes outlined by a complex loyalty programme is pointless if you’re unlikely to encounter their affiliated filling station brand on the road or when you run out of petrol.
Therefore, the best fuel reward programmes are likely those that don’t charge you to sign up, don’t require you to buy into a new pricey ecosystem or pay fees for credit cards or additional products you may not need.
That aside, the best programme is also one you’re most likely to use.
Transparency in the form of flat-rate cash back to spend on future fuel purchases or forecourt shops, rather than percentage cash backs with hard caps, is also winning favour among overwhelmed consumers.
For this reason, unless you’re not already a customer of a bank with a fuel loyalty scheme, you’re likely better off joining the more straightforward flat-rate discount programs that retail stores offer.
After paying monthly membership fees, going through various checks and requirements, and signing up for additional products just to enter higher earning tiers, it’s unlikely you’ll see dramatically more significant rewards than if you just went about your daily business with a loyalty card or two stashed in your cubby hole.
Although picking an individual winner is impossible, the following fuel reward schemes stand out in various categories.
Most service station locations
Discovery’s partnership with Shell and BP gives it the widest filling station footprint in South Africa, with a combined 1150 branches. But it’s important to check the station footprint for your specific neighbourhood or commute, as local coverage of these two brands can be spotty in some areas.
Clicks and FNB’s partnership with Engine is equally compelling, with Engen being South Africa’s single most extensive filling station network with around 1000 branches.
Maximum percentage-based reward
Many fuel reward programmes have done away with percentage-based rewards. Of the two notable ones remaining, Absa offers the best maximum reward at 30% of spend back and a R900 monthly cap.
Minimum percentage-based reward
Discovery’s entry-level reward of 5% is the best in this bracket.
Best flat-rate per litre reward with a credit card
Sanlam’s reward of R1 per litre back at all TotalEnergies outlets, provided you have their appropriate credit card, is the highest flat-rate reward currently on offer.
Best no-strings-attached flat-rate reward
If it’s a flat-rate reward you want – without any strings attached in the form of things like specific credit cards, spending habits, or bank accounts – the rewards offered by stores and filling stations are your best bet.
The highest cashback per litre in this category is Sasol, which offers points to the equivalent of 30c per litre back that you can spend on future purchases within the network.
SOURCE:
