BRAMPTON, CANADA - Is Loblaw taking aim at tech titan Amazon and popular club stores like Costco with the latest addition to its PC Optimum rewards program? Users of the retailer’s free PC Optimum program—only a year old—will now have access to a new “Amazon Prime-style” paid loyalty program, according to a report by the Financial Post.

The new PC Insider program, available at $9.99 a month or $99 a year, is reportedly modeled after Amazon’s popular program. It offers free “click and collect” grocery shopping as well as free shipping on purchases from Loblaw's supermarkets as well as Loblaw’s Joe Fresh apparel brand and Shoppers Drug Mart.

Loblaw’s PC Insider program has already been piloted with a small sample group, and it has reportedly been met with prodigious success in its first year in service, “balloon[ing] to the point that Loblaw had to turn members away.”

The pilot started with 5,000 “hyper-local customers” in the company’s PC Optimum program, and grew to 25,000 members through word-of-mouth and media attention, eventually accruing a 3,000-person-long waitlist.

PC Insider will now be available to all 16 million of Loblaw’s PC Optimum members.

To learn more, read the Financial Post’s report in its entirety.

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Loblaw Companies Ltd