Article content continued

The points game has become part of the Canadian shopping fabric. A 2015 study from Colloquy Loyalty Census Canada, run by LoyaltyOne — the operator of the Air Miles program — found Canadians have almost 130 million memberships, or an average of more than four per person. The retail sector accounts for the biggest chunk of membership at 48 per cent and it grew by 12 per cent in 2015.

“Canadians love their points programs. I spend a lot of my time travelling the world meeting with other program operators and looking at the structure of loyalty programs in different countries and Canada is probably one of the most developed loyalty program markets in the world,” says Bryan Pearson, chief executive of LoyaltyOne.

But Wiegard says there’s more than fun to points collecting. In an economy with low wage growth, people need the extra cash breaks wherever they can get them. Her 2016 gross purchases at Shoppers would have been $1,746 she says, but the coupons and redeemed points cut her spending to $1,078.

“I love the (Shoppers) program because I’m doing the best with that program as far as the money that will come back,” Wiegard says.

Consumers vary widely in how they collect points, some treating it, like Wiegard, as an exercise in strategy, while others are more passive about collecting the points. Navigating the divide, and pleasing all its customers, is the great challenge for loyalty providers.

“I once took a group of collectors out for dinner and I was talking about our program relative to others and I had this one guy who knew the terms and conditions and specifics of our program better than (I did),” Pearson says.