Warning as major high street chain to axe rewards – shoppers have just a month left to earn points

SHOPPERS have just one month left to earn points on a retailer’s rewards scheme before it closes for good.

Game, owned and run by the Frasers Group, is winding down its Game Reward and Game Elite programmes within weeks.

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Game is axing its loyalty schemes in a blow for shoppers[/caption]

Both schemes, which let shoppers earn points on purchases made in-store or online and get money off future shops, will close on July 31.

Customers have until 11.59pm on this date to use up any points they have built up.

However, they can only earn points on anything bought until 11.59pm on July 15, just over a month away.

Game announced the closure of its loyalty schemes last month, with shoppers quick to react on X, formerly Twitter.

One said: “The rewards scheme was literally the only reason I’d purchase from you guys instead of Amazon a lot of the time.”

Another said: “Game (is) taking away one of the last reasons to go shop with them.”

Meanwhile, a third added: “I wonder if Game will survive the year to be honest.”

Customers should receive an email by July 16 telling them their remaining balance.

Emails will be sent to the address they used to sign up to either of the two loyalty programmes.

But any points accrued will need to be redeemed before the end of the day on July 31 otherwise they will be wiped and your account closed.

You can only redeem points once you’ve built up 400, worth £1.

Anything less than this and you won’t be able to exchange the points for a Game product.

Customers can redeem their points by using the Game Reward card or via the app on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

Customers signed up to the Elite scheme can pay for their membership monthly or yearly, at a cost of £36 per year.

If you have bought a 12-month membership, your membership will closed on July 31, unless it is due to expire before then.

Any customers who have paid for a yearly membership but will see it close early will receive their remaining balance as rewards points.

For example, if you paid £36 but only end up using the membership for five months before July 31, you would have £21 outstanding.

If you had £7 worth of Game Reward points in your account, you would be awarded an additional £8 worth of points.

All the terms and conditions relating to the closure of the loyalty schemes can be found on Game’s website.

Game isn’t the first retailer in recent months to announce the end of its loyalty scheme.

Stationer The Works dropped its “Together Rewards” scheme in March, with shoppers left gutted.

The scheme first launched in 2013, but in an email to customers earlier this year, Gavin Peck, chief executive officer, said the retailer had decided to drop the scheme “against a challenging economic backdrop”.

Co-op also ditched its points scheme in January meaning customers could no longer get 2p in points for every £1 spent on its own-brand goods.

It comes after the Frasers Group shut a number of Game branches across the UK.

It closed its store in the Clydebank Shopping Centre, just outside of Glasgow in May.

It also pulled down the shutters on nine branches between October 2023 and March this year.

It’s not all bad news for the Frasers Group though.

It has already started opening “new concept” stores in Norwich, Blackpool and Sheffield.

The concept stores contain various Frasers brands like Sports Direct, Flannels, and beauty halls as well as selling products from USC, Jack Wills and GAME.

The group will also be taking over the former John Lewis site at Queensgate Shopping Centre, Peterborough, at the end of 2025.

And it has acquired Compton House on Liverpool’s famous Church Street, with the location set to open as a giant Sports Direct.

The Sun asked Frasers Group to comment.

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