Lazada has announced that it will be suspending its LiveUp program with effect from 1 May 2020, and refunding existing memberships.
Here’s an excerpt from the email that went out today:
| “In response to the current Covid-19 situation, we have been working hard to meet the rise in demand by increasing our workforce and improving our delivery capacity. With the extension of circuit breaker measures, we are redoubling our efforts to ramp up our service capability even further to serve our community during this critical time
Despite our best efforts, we know some of you have not been able to fully enjoy the benefits of your LiveUp membership. In recognition of this, we will be refunding pro-rated membership fees to all existing members. At the same time, we will also be suspending the current LiveUp programme with effect from 1st May 2020. Our partner lifestyle benefits and member-only exclusive discounts will continue to be available for free until 31 August 2020 Your existing rebates will retain their 30-day expiry from the date of issue. For RedMart orders, free delivery continues to be available on orders above $60 Pro-rated membership fee refund details and arrangements will be shared in the first week of May 2020.” |
On the surface, that sounds great- not only do you get a refund of your membership fees, you continue to enjoy the benefits for four additional months.
Yes and no. From 1 May 2020, Lazada is removing the 4% rebates on LazMall and RedMart transactions, and hiking the minimum purchase for free delivery with RedMart from S$40 to S$60.Â
| Until 30 April 2020 | From 1 May 2020 | |
| LazMall | 4% | No rebate |
| RedMart | 4% rebate Free shipping with min S$40 |
No rebate Free shipping with min S$60 |
| GrabFood | Free delivery (max S$3) for orders >S$20 | Free delivery (max S$3) for orders >S$20 |
| Chope |
100 bonus C$ per reservation | 100 bonus C$ per reservation |
| Agoda | S$30 off hotel bookings with min S$300 spend | S$30 off hotel bookings with min S$300 spend |
| Anywhr | 20% off | 20% off |
| Storytel | 2 months free subscription | 2 months free subscription |
Partner benefits will continue to be available, but quite frankly, the only useful ones right now are GrabFood and Storytel. Chope has suspended redemptions until November 2020 (not that you can dine out anyway), and no one needs trip planning (Anywhr), much less hotels (Agoda) at the moment. Coming from that angle, I’m sure there’ll be some members who’d be glad to get a refund.
Pro-rated refunds will be processed to the original payment method. That is- if you used a credit card to pay for your LiveUp membership, and it’s been less than 120 days since payment was made, you’ll get a refund on your credit card (I hope you didn’t use that amount to hit a sign-up bonus!).
Otherwise, you’ll receive a refund to your Lazada Wallet. Amounts in the wallet can be withdrawn and transferred to your bank account.
If your membership happens to expire between 24 April and 31 August 2020, you can continue to enjoy the remaining partner benefits until 31 August 2020 without needing to pay.
Further FAQs can be found here.
What about Citi Lazada credit cardholders?
A complimentary 1-year LiveUp membership was one of the (very few) highlights of the Citi Lazada credit card, which launched in December last year. How does the suspension of LiveUp affect things?
Well, there are two possible scenarios. Scenario A is that you’re still waiting to receive your LiveUp membership code. The fulfillment times have been very long, and I’ve heard reports of people waiting 3-4 months after card approval. In this case, you’ll receive a voucher of S$59.90 (the value of a 1-year membership) that can be used across Lazada and RedMart.
Scenario B is that you’ve already received and activated your LiveUp membership code. In this case, you’ll receive a pro-rated refund of the remaining value of your membership, although it’s unclear at the moment if this will be in cash (unlikely) or a voucher (more likely).
Cardmembers will receive further communication by the first week of May. Frankly speaking, with the 4.8 mpd on Lazada now gone (it expired on 29 Feb 2020), there’s really no reason to hold the card.
Conclusion
Lazada expects the suspension to last until at least 31 August 2020, at which point they’ll communicate next steps.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think this is the end of LiveUp. The program underwent some major changes (read: nerfs) in July last year that no doubt helped them balance the economics better, and I suspect we’ll see a leaner version return later this year.
(HT: John Doe)
