Fashion retailer Postie Plus has had to cancel its rewards program due to the impact of Covid-19, with chief executive Linda Leonard saying the last six months have been tough according to Stuff.

The rewards program was shut off at the end of July 2020, and was winded down in order to keep the business’ prices low, according to Postie. A form of ‘cash back’ system, the Postie rewards program would give $10 back to customers after their fourth purchase, assuming they spent $10 each time.

“Like everyone else, we had to explore our ‘new normal’ as we emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions,” the business said.

“It’s been a tough time for all Kiwis [and] our number one priority is to keep offering you and your family everyday low prices on our products; so, we had to make some tough choices within our business to keep doing that.”

Postie did specify that the rewards program could be turned back on, or a replacement launched, should the business get to a point it can do so while keeping prices low.

According to Stuff the winding up of the rewards program could also have been a method to save jobs.

Postie was purchased in late 2019 by private equity firm Allegro Funds, and received $2.4 million from the Government’s wage subsidy.