Mall loyalty programme comparison: Frasers Experience vs CapitaStar vs ShopFarEast vs Lendlease Plus

Don’t leave money on the table when you shop at the mall. We compare Singapore’s top mall loyalty programmes to help you save more.
If your SOP at the mall is to swipe your card, grab your purchases and leave, you may well be leaving money on the table. That’s because many malls operate loyalty programmes, schemes that allow shoppers to earn bonus rebates on their purchases, on top of credit card rewards.
But how do these work, and what’s the effort-reward ratio like? We’ll explore these in this post.
There are currently four major mall rewards programmes in Singapore, run by CapitaLand, Far East, Frasers and Lendlease. Collectively, they cover more than 50 malls across Singapore, meaning you’re almost certain to visit one of them regularly.
Loyalty Programme | Number of Participating Malls | Malls |
Frasers Experience(FRx) | 17 | Alexandra Technopark, Bedok Point, Causeway Point, Century Square, Changi City Point, Cross Street Exchange, East Point Mall, Frasers Tower, Hougang Mall, Northpoint City, Robertson Walk, Tampines 1, The Centrepoint, Tiong Bahru Plaza, Valley Point, Waterway Point, White Sands |
CapitaStar | 17 | Aperia, Bedok Mall, Bugis Junction, Bugis+, Bukit Panjang Plaza, Clarke Quay, Funan, IMM, J Cube, Jewel Changi Airport, Junction 8, Lot One, Plaza Singapura, Raffles City, SingPost Centre, Tampines Mall, Westgate |
ShopFarEast(SFE) | 16 | Bijou, Clarke Quay Central, Far East Square, Greenwich V, HillV2, Hougang 1, Icon Village Junction 10, Katong V, Orchard Central, Pacific Plaza, Riverside Point, Square 2, West Coast Plaza, Mess Hall at Sentosa Woods Square |
Lendlease Plus | 4 | 313@somerset, Jem, Parkway Parade, Paya Lebar Quarter |
Below are the summarised key aspects of each rewards program.
Features | CapitaStar | ShopFarEast (SFE) | Frasers Experience (FRx) | Lendlease Plus |
Earn Rate* | $1 = 5 STAR$ | $1 = 1 SFE point | $1 = 1 FRx point | $1 = 10 Plus$ |
Min. Spend to Earn Points | $20($10 at Jewel) | $10 | $10 | $10 |
Max. Earn Per Day | 5,000 STAR$ | 1,000 SFE points | 500 FRx points | 10,000 Plus$ |
Spend required for $5 voucher | $1,000 | $500 | $1,000(S$500 if FRx elite) | $1,000($500 if Premium) |
Points Expiry | 12 – 15 months | Six – 18 months | Three – 15 months | Six – 18 months |
Free Parking | Spend $1,200 in a month for three hours free parking per day in the following month | 350 points = Two hours parking | 10 points = $0.05 carpark credit | Plus$ can be used to redeem parking |
Third Party Partnerships | – AMEX CapitaCard– GrabRewards– Singapore Airlines | N/A | – STACK Rewards | N/A |
*Lower accrual rates may apply at supermarkets
Let’s go through each of those terms to understand their implications.
This is pretty much self explanatory: the earn rate is the number of points you earn for every $1 spent at the mall.
The main thing to take note of here is that malls offer fewer points for spending at supermarkets as they do for other tenants. With CapitaStar, for instance, you earn one STAR$ per $1 spent at supermarkets, instead of 5 STAR$ elsewhere.
The simple reason is that supermarkets are valuable anchor tenants that draw customers to a mall. Mall operators therefore give them concessionary rental rates, which also reduces the scope to offer rewards on purchases.
All four programmes require members to meet a certain minimum spend in order to accumulate points. This is set at $10 per receipt across all programmes except CapitaStar, which requires a minimum of $20.
All four programmes cap the maximum number of points you can earn in a day. I don’t understand why, as it penalises those purchasing big-ticket items, behaviour which you’d think the malls would want to reward.
The cap is set at $1,000 of daily spend across all programmes except FRx, where the cap is $500.
Your hard-earned points won’t last forever, and the expiry timelines can be quite confusing. You’ll notice I’ve indicated a range for each of the programmes above. That’s because expiry depends on when your points were accrued.
To put it in greater detail:
This category is also self-explanatory. Rewards points can be used to redeem complimentary parking at participating shopping malls.
Certain loyalty programmes have tied up with third parties to allow for accrual of points even when you’re not at the mall.
For example, AMEX CapitaCard members will earn 5 STAR$ per $1 spent outside of CapitaLand Malls, and GrabRewards & KrisFlyer members can also convert their points and miles into STAR$.
Likewise, FRx is part of the STACK Rewards platform, where users can convert points from OCBC credit cards, Great Eastern UPGREAT and Millennium Hotels & Resorts.
Since we’re dealing with different rewards currencies here, the best way to compare 1 STAR$ to 1 SFE point to 1 FRx point to 1 Plus$ is to use a common denominator: how much do you need to spend to earn a S$5 shopping mall voucher?
ALSO READ: Loyalty programmes to keep shoppers keen
SFE is the most generous here, requiring $500 of spending to earn a $5 voucher. This works out to be an effective rebate of one per cent, double of what you get with the three other programmes. one per cent isn’t life-changing by any means, but it’s important to remember that you earn this on top of your credit card rewards, and it costs you nothing extra to earn those points.
Which one is the best?
It’s hard to pinpoint an objective best programme, but I will make the following observations:
For those looking for an immediate payoff, I would recommend making big-ticket purchases at Far East malls, since they have the highest rebate at 1 per cent. Just be careful of any purchases over $1,000, which will trigger the daily points cap.
Mall rewards programmes are a useful way to pick up additional rebates, on top of whatever you earn with your credit card. They can be a hassle sometimes, what with all the tracking and receipt scanning, but if you’re disciplined enough you’ll be able to squirrel away a good chunk of points over time.
This article was first published in SingSaver.com.sg.