Lego VIP on all Lego purcheses?!

[jamie75]

We drink a lot of Coke products in our house. My wife and use the Coke Rewards system. For those that don't know what Coke Rewards is. It is a program Coke runs, where they print codes inside there products. Under the caps of 2 liters. Inside the cardboard 12 and 24 packs. After you open the 2 liter, 12 or 24 pack, you go to Cokerewards.com. Enter the code and after you get so many points, you can get free pop/ soda, Coke gear, gift cards, etc. The codes are a mix of letters and numbers and about 20 characters long.

So, my question/ suggestion is. Could we get Lego to get a similar system running inside their already established VIP program. That way, even if you buy a set of Meijer's, Target, Toys'r'Us, Wally-World. You can still get the points for it in their VIP system.

Maybe, they could do full points at Lego.com and in Lego Stores, ie, spend $20 get 20 points. If you buy from somewhere else, you get 1/2 points. So, spend $20 at Toys'r'Us and get 10 points. Something is better then nothing.

What do you guys think, Jamie

[Lego Engineer]

I can't confirm but I'll have a guess at why this doesn't/wouldn't happen. When 3rd parties sell a set they will take a certain percentage of the cost to cover their expenses and make the sale profitable. When you buy direct from Lego the retail price will be the same but you do not have to recover the costs of a third party seller. Hence the VIP discounts allows Lego to reward repeat customers and still have a similar profit margin compared to a set sold in a third party store.

[Dhivael]

I think Lego Engineer hit the nail on the head. Plus, it would encourage double-dipping as some retailers like TRU already have their own rewards programs. It would be nice to be able to use Target or Amazon to get the same points as at S@H, especially when i buy sale sets. That said, I think that TLG is unlikely to expand the program, especially because it drives people to buy from S@H, and provide more revenue from those direct sales.

[jamie75]

Yeah, I guess it is more wishful thinking than anything. Posted this morning, coffee hadn't kicked in yet.

Thanks for the replies, Jamie

[dr_spock]

The question to ask is what's in it for LEGO now to expand VIP to non-LEGO owned retail outlets. Do the benefits outweigh the costs and effort? We had iCoke reward points in Canada but Coke terminated it last year. Who knows? Maybe when LEGO isn't number 1 any more and competition is fierce they might do it to keep brand loyalty.

[Deathleech]

There is very little incentive to buy directly from Lego as is. Why would I buy from Lego and get 5% back in VIP points for a future purchase when I can get a RedCard or Toys R Us card and get 5% off every purchase (RedCard), or 10% off on Thursdays (TRU)? Those give you immediate discounts too, not future ones. On top of that, those stores often have decent sales while Lego S@H rarely has any, and they are fairly insignificant when they do. The VIP are the only thing Lego has going for them, along with the polybag promos.

If Lego offered VIP at other Stores there would literally be no reason to ever shop at Lego S@H or a Lego store again. If anything I think they need to up their own offers. A lower threshold for free shipping would be a good start. $75 is kind of rediculous when other places offer it for $25 or $50 spent. 10% VIP back and/or more theme specific polybag offers at $50 spent would be great options too.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Deathleech

[BrickG]

I buy the explanation but don't accept it as good enough :P.

I almost never buy off Lego's direct stores because Amazon and places like that will always have a superior deal. Exceptions being some hard to find sets which 3rd parties aren't allowed to put on sale, and when they have a minifigure reward I want. Other then that the VIP points are pathetic and don't even match the every day savings I get off places like Amazon which OFTEN has these things at like 1/3rd off PLUS I get free 1 day shipping! Shop.lego.com is just almost always the worst choice for savings.

I'd love codes so my 3rd party purchases counted. Or better yet I'd love for them to do sales that didn't suck more often (10% off Star Wars sets? That's not even close to Amazon sales). Sometimes they do good sales like 50% off the B-Wing but those are few and far between.

[Lyichir]

It seems to me that this would go directly against the core purpose of the VIP program, which is to incentivize buying direct from Lego without having to make the base prices from the official shop any lower than Lego's retail partners. By using a points system, Lego can keep all but the oldest sets at MSRP while still offering a chance for repeat customers to get discounts.