People braved very wet conditions and were more than an hour early to get into the Velocity 1 Point Rewards Store as early as possible. (Source: TikTok\/Instagram) <\/p>\n
Virgin Australia’s<\/a> resurrection of the Velocity Points<\/a> store has kicked off with a bang, as eager shoppers braved wet conditions to be there when the doors opened. The pop-up in Sydney is only for one day, but it will allow Velocity members to redeem their points<\/a> on items from big-name retailers like Bose, Dyson and GHD.<\/p>\n A TikTok video showed a massive queue of people snaking<\/a> tens of metres from the door had erupted on Pitt St at 6:30am on Friday ahead of the 8am open, despite the bucketing rain. Similar scenes happened in Melbourne when the same pop-up opened in 2023.<\/p>\n Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO Nick Rohrlach said the store was a way of helping customers redeem their points much faster than normal.<\/p>\n “And the 1 Point Rewards Store puts the spotlight on that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Velocity, earning Points is easy and fast. You don\u2019t need to spend big or wait long for your next reward \u2013 spending daily on things like your morning coffee, a tank of fuel, weekly grocery shop or mobile phone bill could get you there in no time.”<\/p>\n Melbourne and Brisbane are set to get their own one-day pop-up stores; however the dates haven’t yet been revealed.<\/p>\n Do you have a story? Email stew.perrie@yahooinc.com<\/p>\n Normally, you would have to shell out tens, hundreds or even thousands of points to buy certain items.<\/p>\n However, the Velocity 1 Point Rewards Store allows shoppers to purchase these same items for just one point.<\/p>\n Not only that, but you can also buy mystery prizes that include flights.<\/p>\n But Velocity hadn’t indicated how many of each item would be available, which is likely why there were so many people trying to get in first.<\/p>\n Rohrlach said previous pop-up 1 Point Reward stores have seen things fly off the shelves in a matter of hours and predicted Friday’s shop to be the same.<\/p>\n You can pick up things like a Dyson Airwrap multi-stylers, WellCare LED Face Mask, Prada Paradoxe and Burberry Hero fragrances, Bose QuietComfort headphones and Virgin Australia flights and Lounge access for just one point.<\/p>\n But rewards are limited to one per customer, per location.<\/p>\n The 1 Point Rewards Store comes at an awkward time for loyalty programs across the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mastercard recently warned<\/a> that the Reserve Bank of Australia’s plan<\/a> to overhaul card surcharges and the payment ecosystem contains a proposal that could see these programs drastically reduce their offerings for members.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n Qantas has already <\/a>made changes to its Qantas Frequent Flyer program.<\/p>\n It was the first adjustment in six years, with Finder’s travel expert Angus Kidman telling Yahoo Finance the value of points “declined significantly”.<\/p>\n While the exact increase varies, the devaluation is between 5 and 20 per cent. This has also happened as Qantas increased fees and surcharges for business and first class seats.<\/p>\n A Sydney to Melbourne economy class seat, for example, will go from 8,000 points and $55 in fees, to 9,200 points and $55 in fees.<\/p>\n While a business class seat will go from 144,600 points plus $473 in fees, to 166,300 points and $648 in fees.<\/p>\n To combat this, Qantas released 400,000 new Classic Rewards seats across its international and domestic network, including its premium cabins.<\/p>\n Velocity also announced changes earlier this year to the value of its points program, which was its first adjustment in eight years.<\/p>\n Before January 21, a short-haul, one-way domestic seat on Virgin would cost between 5,900 to 9,900 points, but after the switch, that upper threshold increased to 12,900 points. You can find out all the changes here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rohrlach said at the time that the changes would help ensure the rewards program could “continue to have a sustainable, competitive and valuable proposition for members”.<\/p>\n Get the latest Yahoo Finance news – follow us on Facebook<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n