New RBC Shoppers Optimum Banking Account - Debit Card. Handout/RBCA leading Canadian bank and one of the country’s most popular loyalty
programs have joined forces to offer consumers more ways to earn points
on a new co-branded debit card.
Royal Bank of Canada and Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. jointly announced Tuesday they’re launching the RBC Shoppers Optimum card, effective March 17.
Cardholders can earn twice as many Optimum points every time they make a purchase at a Shoppers Drug Mart store (or a Pharmaprix in Quebec) and also earn points on purchases made at other retailers.
“Together, we are advancing the banking and retail experience by making financial products and everyday banking more accessible,” said Dave McKay, group head, Canadian Banking RBC. “This is the first step in a new alliance that will make banking more convenient by expanding beyond our branches and providing Canadians with enhanced reward options on everyday spending.”
The move, which will see Shoppers install RBC bank machines in 300 of
its 1,200 stores across the country, is the latest example of
innovative ways Canada’s banks are competing to secure new customers.
The banks are also sprucing up their branches, extending their hours
on weekends, and improving customer service, industry experts said.
“About 15 to 20 years ago you did almost everything with your local bank,” said David McVay, a principal in McVay and Associates, a Toronto-based financial services consulting firm. “Today, it’s easy to split your relationship between one bank for your chequing account, another one for your mortage and another for your RRSPs.”
“The consumer is more fragmented than they used to be,” McVay said.
The move comes three months after BMO Bank of Montreal launched a co-branded debit card with Sobeys, the country’s second largest supermarket chain.
However, the two programs differ on several key points.
The BMO Club Sobeys card is a discount banking product, more like those offered by ING or PC financial, where cardholders save on fees and earn higher than average interest rates if they maintain a high balance.
In comparison, the RBC Shoppers Optimum card will be a “full-service” product, comparable to the bank’s “no-limit” chequing account, which comes with a monthly fee of $10.95 but includes unlimited debit transactions.
RBC and Shoppers say they plan to back up the program with extensive marketing, including salespeople in the stores.
The companies say they also plan to jointly offer additional banking and insurance products. No specifics were announced.
“Aligning with RBC allows us to expand upon our current financial services officer, providing our customers with even greater convenience and enhanced rewards,” Shoppers’ president and chief executive officer, Dominic Pilla, said in a statement.
The retailer offers a co-branded Optimum credit card with MasterCard.
Members of Shoppers’ Optimum loyalty program currently earn 10 points for every $1 spent in the store. With an RBC Optimum card, they’ll earn an additional 10 points in Shoppers and a single point for every $1 spent at other locations.
As well, holders of other RBC loyalty cards, such as its Visa Avion brand credit card, will be able to transfer those points to the Optimum program if they wish, using them to buy cosmetics or groceries or other drugstore merchandise instead of travel.
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