Clarification Needed on Loyalty Points Expiry Policy | Voters

Clarification Needed on Loyalty Points Expiry Policy

Roxy

I’d like to raise a concern that I believe may resonate with many retailers using the Citrus Lime rewards scheme.
Like others I’ve spoken to, we were under the impression that loyalty points expire one year after they are earned. This understanding was consistently reinforced through interactions with the support team - and other senior members of the Citrus Lime team- who also appeared to operate under the same assumption.
However, after querying a specific case, we were surprised to learn that points do not automatically expire after one year. Instead, they only expire if the customer’s account has been completely inactive for a full year. This came as a surprise not just to us, but also to the support member we spoke with – thus, prompting further investigation.
This raises several important concerns:
• Customer Engagement: If a single purchase per year is enough to keep points active, it undermines the purpose of a loyalty scheme designed to encourage regular, repeat purchases.
• Liability Risk: Points can accumulate indefinitely for customers who choose to save them for large purchases, creating a growing financial liability for retailers.
• Transparency: At no point was it clearly communicated that points only expire due to account inactivity. This nuance significantly alters how the scheme functions in practice.
To better align the scheme with its intended purpose, we would like to suggest that loyalty points expire one year from the date of purchase if they remain unused. This would encourage timely redemption, reduce long-term liability, and preserve the integrity of the rewards system as a tool for driving consistent customer engagement.
We strongly encourage other retailers who joined the scheme under the assumption of a fixed one-year expiry to review this aspect closely. Clearer communication around this policy - and consideration of a more balanced expiry model- would benefit everyone involved and help align expectations with reality.
We look forward to hearing others’ experiences and perspectives on this.

September 1, 2025

Lyndon Hollands

We would rather it stays as it is and is done on account inactivity because that is what we have communicated to our customers in the past. Sorry.

Scott

I was under the same impression and have been with Citrus Lime for years! It should be time based it’s easy to understand and from a balance sheet point of view allows you to forecast exposure for accounts purposes. Whatever the difficulty of doing this it needs to be this way, for the reasons already well explained by yourself.

🙄

Neil McQuillan - CEO Citrus-Lime

Roxy I'm sorry if we've given you incorrect information here, Customer Rewards since its inception has the expiry of points on account inactivity (e.g. the consumer has not purchased from the store), it would be possible to allow shorter expiry windows e.g. not activity for six months. 
I'm open to suggestions on change here, for example allowing points to expiry after say six months of customer inactivity. I don't think it would be possible to do the expiry on the transaction date (e.g. points expire one year after that individual transaction), but I am open to other suggestions. 
The evidence we have is that consumers spending Rewards points are more frequent purchases, and have higher ATV and IPT than users not engaged in Rewards.

Scott

Neil McQuillan - CEO Citrus-Lime all understood but the liability aspect means an expiry from issue date is far easier to account for.

Lauren

That seems concerning.