Everyday Rewards vs Flybuys: which is better for you?

Woolworths’ Everyday Rewards and Coles’ Flybuys are the two largest supermarket loyalty programs in Australia. Aside from grocery shopping, customers can collect points on transactions and purchases from a number of partners, including fuel, liquor, department stores and more.

With so many opportunities to collect and redeem points, the debate boils down to which program is better for points enthusiasts – Everyday Rewards or Flybuys?

In this article, we’ll compare the two programs. The focus is solely on earning and redeeming points with these programs and not on other program inclusions like free delivery or discounts. When comparing which program is better for earning points, we’ll consider four factors:

1. Ease of earning points.
2. Redeeming points for shopping discounts, gift cards and other rewards.
3. Converting supermarket points to frequent flyer points.
4. Paid subscription programs that boost the points earn rate.

Of course, there are other factors that can influence your choice of loyalty program, including accessibility of program partners, prices at various retailers, or targeted bonus offers.

We break down the points earning potential to help you weigh up whether Everyday Rewards or Flybuys is a better fit for your shopping habits.

1. Ease of earning points: where and how

It’s likely that most members of both programs primarily earn points when shopping at their respective supermarket partners. But aside from this, there are other ways to amass Everyday Rewards and Flybuys points. The list below isn’t exhaustive, as both programs have dozens of partners. But at the time of writing, here are some ways that these programs reward their members outside of grocery shopping.

The list below only covers retailers and services that offer ongoing ways to earn points. This does not include one-off bonuses or promotions, such as insurance or utility sign-up offers.

Where you can earn Everyday Rewards points

• Grocery shopping: Woolworths (in-store and online), Woolworths Metro (in-store)
• Liquor: BWS (in-store and online)
• Department stores: Big W (in-store and online)
• Specialty retailers: Healthylife, Marley Spoon, Dinnerly
• Fuel: EG, Ampol (some locations excluded)
• Online retailers: MyDeal, MILKRUN (via app)

Where you can earn Flybuys points

• Grocery shopping: Coles (in-store and online)
• Liquor: Liquorland, First Choice Liquor (both in-store and online)
• Department stores: Kmart, Target (both in-store and online)
• Speciality retailers: Bunnings, Officeworks (both in-store and online)
• Fuel: Coles Express
• Online retailers: Catch.com.au
• Services: Coles Personal Loans*, Flybuys Travel, Discovery Parks and Gday Parks (all online), mycar (in-store)

*We’ve included Coles Personal Loans as eligible policy-holders can earn one extra Flybuys point per $1 spent at Coles.

Both rewards programs cover a range of industries, including liquor, department stores and fuel, giving customers ample opportunities to earn points. Of course, with the ease of earning points comes redemption opportunities – which we’ll look at below.

2. Redeeming supermarket points on shopping

For some members, the allure of collecting points from shopping is the simple benefit of offsetting future transactions. This can be in the form of a fixed value off your next shop, gift cards, or via a rewards store.

Money off your shop

Both Everyday Rewards and Flybuys offer the ability to redeem your points for money off your eligible shop at a range of partners. We’ve summarised these below.

While the Everyday Rewards program offers fewer redemption partners, members have the ability to use their $10 discount online – a perk lacking from the Flybuys program, which only allows for in-store redemptions.

You may also notice that with both programs, not all retailers where you can earn points also allow you to redeem them. For example, you can earn Flybuys points at Bunnings, but you won’t be able to redeem your Flybuys Dollars there.

Bank for Christmas

This feature is exclusive to the Everyday Rewards program. Instead of redeeming your points for $10 off your shop throughout the year, you can ‘bank’ your points to use at Christmas. This effectively freezes your entire points balance until 1 December.

For some members, the points saved during the year – which could be equivalent to hundreds of dollars – is a welcome relief when Christmas rolls around. For others, banking points until Christmas is a strategy used to pause the automatic transfer of Everyday Rewards points to Qantas Points so the points roll over into another year and contribute to reaching Qantas Points Club.

If you choose Bank for Christmas, your Everyday Rewards points can only be used from 1-31 December. After this period, they’ll sit in your balance, ready to roll over into next December. However, you can change this at any time to receive $10 off your shop throughout the year or an automatic conversion to Qantas Points.

Though this benefit of the Everyday Rewards program isn’t too different from the usual money off your shop throughout the year, the ability to bank your points can be incredibly useful for those who want a little extra to splurge over the festive period.

Gift cards

You can use Flybuys points to purchase gift cards via a dedicated portal. Unfortunately, the Everyday Rewards program has no such equivalent – giving Flybuys points a leg up in this instance.

The benefit of using Flybuys points to purchase gift cards is the flexibility to essentially redeem your Flybuys points beyond program partners. There are hundreds of retailers to choose from, considering that The Card Network gift cards and Good Food gift cards can be used across scores of brands.

Fixed-amount gift cards start from 6,000 Flybuys points for a $30 gift card. Some gift cards are physical, while others are digital – you’ll find this information on the individual gift card page before you purchase.

Redeeming Flybuys points for gift cards

We’ve highlighted some of the best gift card redemptions for your Flybuys points below:

Other rewards

Another perk exclusive to the Flybuys program is its Rewards Store. Here you’ll find thousands of products across dozens of brands, with everything from appliances to outdoor equipment and even toys.

Payment can be made entirely in points or with a combination of points and cash. While redeeming Flybuys points in the Rewards Store is arguably poor value compared to money off your shop or gift cards, it is an option that some customers may find beneficial.

3. Converting supermarket points to frequent flyer points

Unlike shopping discounts or gift cards, frequent flyer points can extract greater value than a fixed monetary redemption, especially when redeeming points for reward seats. Both supermarket rewards programs offer a 2:1 conversion to frequent flyer points.

For some, halving the value of supermarket rewards points won’t make sense, particularly if you don’t travel often. In this case, a shopping discount may be more economical. But for others, there’s a high value in amassing frequent flyer points this way, particularly when combined with a points-earning credit card at the checkout. For instance, with the American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card, you can pocket three American Express Membership Rewards points per $1 spent at major supermarkets, giving you a significant points boost from your regular grocery shop.

Both supermarkets often run bonus offers on gift cards. A recurring offer is 20x bonus points on select gift cards. For those looking to convert supermarket points to frequent flyer points, taking advantage of gift card promotions can be an effective means of topping up your balance.

Learn more about maximising frequent flyer points on supermarket spend in our in-depth guide.

4. Subscription programs: Everyday Extra vs Coles Plus vs OnePass

In addition to its free rewards programs, Woolworths and Coles offer paid subscription programs. For a small monthly fee, you’ll enjoy a range of extra benefits, including an increased points earn rate.

The table below covers points earn rates only and does not consider other benefits of these programs like free delivery or discounts on purchases. For the purpose of comparing the ease of earning Everyday Rewards points vs Flybuys points, we’ve included the OnePass program, which earns Flybuys points at select retailers.

For a full breakdown of each program and its benefits, the relevant guides are linked below the table.

Also read: The Ultimate Guide to Everyday Extra, The Ultimate Guide to Coles Plus, Is it worth getting OnePass to earn 5x Flybuys points?

Of course, you don’t need to purchase a subscription program just to earn more points on your regular shopping. By taking advantage of targeted offers and special promotions, you could earn extra points with minimal effort without spending more than you intend to.

Everyday Rewards vs Flybuys: the verdict

Overall, both programs offer a variety of retailers where you can earn points from everyday shopping. In terms of ease of collecting points, there’s not much difference between Everyday Rewards and Flybuys.

But aside from money off your shop, the ways you can redeem your points are stacked in favour of Flybuys, which offers a comprehensive gift card selection and thousands of products in its Rewards Store.

For those who prefer to convert their supermarket rewards points to frequent flyer points, ultimately the value lies in your preferred airline program and how you choose to then redeem your frequent flyer points.

If you’re supplementing your supermarket points earn with a paid subscription program, Everyday Extra’s monthly fee is a fraction of Coles Plus, with both programs doubling the standard points earn rate. But throwing OnePass into the mix, which offers a substantial Flybuys points boost at department stores and speciality retailers, it may be easier to amass Flybuys points if you regularly shop at these retailers and are willing to pay the subscription program fee.

While this article focuses on earning points through both programs, that isn’t the only benefit to consider. If you value other program benefits like free delivery or ongoing discounts, you’ll need to dive deeper into what each program offers. We’ve summarised everything you should consider in The Ultimate Guide to Everyday Rewards and The Ultimate Guide to Flybuys.

Let us know in the poll below which program you prefer, and don’t forget to subscribe to our email newsletter for the latest points tips, tricks and hacks.