An especially savvy Big W shopper has paid just $9 for a PS5 console after figuring out how to make the Woolworths Rewards loyalty program work for him.
As spotted by News, the crafty consumer headed to the Markdown Addicts Australia Facebook page to explain exactly how he got the deal over the line.
The secret was a working knowledge of the Woolworths Rewards loyalty program, which also works at Woolies-owned department store Big W. In the program, every 2000 points earned on a shop, customers unlock $10 off their next. Our hero simply banked these discounts. One of the ways he did this was by purchasing prepaid Visa debit cards whenever Woolworths put a points multiplier on their sale. This had a knock-on effect: by using the prepaid cards to pay his regular bills, Captain Thrifty was earning more points he could use to bank more discounts.
The points accrual was slow going — it took our hero 18 months to put together $1,000 in combined discounts and, after using a few points on incidental items, was able bring the total on his $799 PS5 down to just $9.
What a great way to celebrate the sudden, widespread availability of the console. To date, PS5s have been notoriously hard to come by, snatched up by scalpers as chip shortages and supply chain issues lingered after the early part of the pandemic. In just the last week, a giant wave of stock has arrived in Australia, obliterating backlogs and putting stock on store shelves for the first time ever — and just in time for Christmas.
Anyway, congratulations to this crafty, deals-hungry legend. He played the long game, and he won. GG.