The change of this card is unlikely to be a conversion to a Citi TYP card like happened with the Sears Card.
2018 RetailDive article:
Under the amended agreement, Sears gives up its right to purchase program-related assets in certain circumstances, including on termination of the program unless Sears elects for the two-year extension after 2025, according to the filing.
This would be similar to the clause that Costco has in the Citi Costco deal from 2015, where the deal runs 10 years initial term and Costco gets the option of a three year extension at Costco's sole discretion. So it sounds like Sears had the option to invoke a two year extension uniltaterally, but only on the SYW card.
This would explain why unlike the conversion of the Sears Card to the Citi ThankYou Mastercard, why they wouldn't tell us the name up front (Transformco/Sears hasn't announced it yet) and why the letter we've received as SYW cardholders doesn't say the card will earn TYP just that on Nov 3rd "
the new rewards program will start").
In terms of doomscrolling on nerfs, I'm pretty bullish that there won't be severe nerfs (either in earn rate or the spend offers like GGR):
- These offers (GGR, online and in-store retail, etc.) are apparently common on the Citi retail services platform. The Sears card didn't lose these offers when it became the Citi ThankYou Mastercard, and apparently the Citi Best Buy Visa gets them too.
- In terms of nerfing the earn rate, it wouldn't be in Transformco's interest. SYW technically has in-store offers (run on Rewards Network as a card linked network) and in-store offers already. But they need to incentivize people to use the program more outside of the SYW credit card. There are virtually no Sears or Kmarts left (less than a dozen locations between the two remain). They need to pivot to a stronger value prop to get people to want to use the in-store and online portions. I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled a Rakuten Amex-esque move and add a bonus +3x points for using the card on an in-store/online affiliate cashback link purchase via SYW portal.
That being said, while I'm cautiously optimistic - I liquidated my points into a virtual VGC already. Best case scenario I expect the redemption rate of SYW points to be unchanged. Worst case scenario, I've limited my downside.
EDIT: Within the <HEAD>opening and closing HTML tags on the main Shopyourway.com site, the meta description is (for bots to crawl)
[quote="SYW Current"]At Shop Your Way, we think you deserve more. With Shop Your Way, you can earn while you shop, like never before. Welcome to rewards, re-imagined.[/i]
Within the teaser on SYW.com (again, inside the HTML of the page, not visible as how the page is rendered to humans
Originally Posted by SYW Teaser
At Shop Your Way, we think you deserve more. That's why we've created the new Shop Your Way so you can earn while you shop, like never before. Welcome to rewards, re-imagined.
Also the title for the latter page (in the meta tags, again not visible to humans) "
Meet the re-imagined Shop Your Way".
So seemingly they're just... doing Shop Your Way 2.0??? It's possible they left in new for SEO purposes and they'll put some rebranded name later.
But then, the IP holder for Transformco has trademarked Telluride for customer loyalty services.
And then under Telluride on the Shopyourway.com domain there's documentation for invoking the Application Programming Interface for ShopYourWay and...
PayYourWay.
Then we have
this job posting for a position at SYW...
Originally Posted by SYW Job Posting
Pay Your Way (“PYW”) – a business unit, B2B(2C) product and platform inside SYW –
is a new Credit-as-a-Service offering for Merchants, Digital Marketplaces, and more that want an embedded credit offering without the hassle of setting up a direct credit relationship with a bank or underwriter. We make it easy for Partners of any size to improve their conversions, drive new revenue, save on transaction and payment costs, and create more repeat business.
Our existing partnerships with clients such as Citibank,
Raise.com, and others make the next generation of loyalty and credit a reality. Built on the latest technology, our roadmap has laid the foundation to enable innovation and growth for years to come.
So it seems SYW is going full fintech and is going to go to direct digital issuance via API for merchants that want people to have easier access to credit but not the means or desire to set up a full relationship with an issuing bank.
Some bullet points, same link:
Originally Posted by SYW Job Posting
● Recent investment of +$30M of “growth capital” from Private Equity / Hedge Fund sponsor
● Long-term strategic partnership with Citibank powering a multi-billion dollar credit portfolio
● Compelling pipeline of New Business Development initiatives, focused on SYW 5321 Card Externalization (“loyalty-card as a service”)
● Proprietary, best-in-class loyalty and data technology platform built to power $10+ billion of partner business
● A sizable (9 million active) yet hyper local member base of active shoppers
● A valuable rewards currency, with more new places to burn – from gift cards to sports media to parking, car wash, electrical vehicle charging to crypto and ETFs
● A multi-tender, proprietary “wallet” with rewards, gift cards, and credit
So it sounds like there's going to be more options to earn and the possibility for more merchants to directly reward/allow redemption of SYW points and that it isn't all negative.
The end program name could be Telluride, it could be something else. All signs point to the program adding earn/redeem options directly at more merchants.