Loblaw to merge Shoppers Optimum and PC Plus loyalty programs in February

TORONTO -- Loblaw Companies Ltd. says it will merge Shoppers Optimum points and PC Plus points under the name PC Optimum starting in February.

The food and pharmacy giant says consumers can collect points as usual until Feb. 1, 2018 when Optimum and PC Plus points will be moved to the new program at equal value.

If a collector has $100 worth of Optimum points, they will receive $100 worth of PC Optimum points, for example.

Loblaw says the new program will have an easy to remember redemption system -- with 10,000 points valued at $10, 20,000 points at $20 and so on to a maximum single transaction redemption of $500.

Consumers will earn 50 per cent more points for almost every dollar spent at Shoppers Drug Mart locations under the new loyalty program to help account for the higher number of points needed for each redemption level.

Some analysts have anticipated the move since Loblaw acquired Shoppers Drug Mart, along with its in-house Shopper Optimum loyalty program, in 2014, and increasingly so since August when CIBC (TSX:CM) and Loblaw's PC Financial announced they would end their nearly 20-year relationship.