Virgin Australia Partners with Westfield Online Shopping
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Virgin Australia has cashed in on the growing online shopping trend in Australia through a partnership with Westfield shopping centres. The deal will expand the Virgin Australia frequent flyer program by partnering with the web based retail operations of Westfield. The mall giant has been focusing on creating and expanding its online presence to cater to the consumer trend of online shopping.
Some of the digital options Westfield is pursuing include a website which provides access to 160 online stores selling over 3000 projects. It also operates a Facebook site which has become quite popular and a partnership with designer Rachel Zoe. The deal with Westfield will help the Virgin Velocity frequent flyer program to keep pace with the larger Qantas scheme as it also moves toward online retail partnerships.
Virgin is betting that online shopping will help expand its membership beyond the current 2.75 million members. The company is playing catch up to Qantas, which has over 8 million members in its frequent flyer program. Virgin is hoping to steal some of these members away from Qantas by offering a free trial of their program without requiring a joining fee if premium class members agree to book their flights with Virgin for one year.
Westfield is the first retail group in Australia to enter a “fly and buy” partnership with an airline frequent flyer program. Because the online shopping space is super competitive today, Westfield is seeking innovative ways to reward its loyal customers who shop online through their website. It also gives Virgin Velocity members another great option for redeeming their frequent flyer points by shopping online with Westfield.
The terms of the new customer loyalty deal between Virgin Australia and Westfield will allow Virgin Velocity Frequent Flyer members to both earn and redeem program points for online shopping at the Westfield website. Westfield is the largest shopping centre company in Australia, so this partnership will provide more retail choices than other frequent flyer programs in the country.
The program will offer more than 10,000 items for sale on a daily basis, plus free shipping on all purchases of fashion and accessories. The deal allows Virgin Velocity members to earn points which they can use for everyday shopping, plus global flight coverage which enables members to redeem their points for flights anywhere in the world. The deal comes just in time for the Christmas holiday shopping season.
Virgin Velocity members will now be able to redeem their frequent flyer points for Christmas online shopping on Boxing Day at many of their favourite stores, including Saba, Glue Store, Peep Toe, Ben Sherman, Charlie Brown, Napoleon Perdis, JB Hi-Fi and many more.
The Westfield online shopping website, which can be accessed by clicking the link below, has also been upgraded recently to include a new Designer Collection, which features the latest collections from Australian designers like Sass & Bide, Little Joe, Alex Perry, Lisa Ho, Farage, Dion Lee, Ellery, Thurley, Ksubi, Ginger & Smart, and many others. To celebrate the launch of the new program, Velocity members will now be able to earn 4 points for each dollar they spend on the Westfield.com.au site through December 31 and they will earn 2 points per dollar for purchases made after that date.
