Alo Access: Lovely Clothing, Limited Rewards
Alo Yoga is known for their premium leisure and activewear for the consumer who is all about health and mindfulness, and likes to look good when walking around with a $12 smoothie. Fun fact: their name stands for Air, Land, Ocean (cute!).
But does their Alo Access loyalty program stretch your rewards as well as their leggings stretch your budget? We rolled out our metaphorical yoga mat and took a long, slow breath to dive in.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
How You Earn:
First, credit where credit's due: Alo kept the earning structure blissfully simple. No complicated calculators or obscure tiers here and we love that:
1 point for every $1 spent either online or in-store.
No mental gymnastics needed. You shop, you earn, namaste.
The Tiers:
Alo Access is divided into three tiers: VIP, a-list and All Access.
VIP: Free to join, no spend required.
A-list Spend $300 in a 12-month period.
All Access Spend $1,000 in a 12-month period.
(If you think the term “VIP” sounds better than “All Access”, you are not alone. We found the names confusing.) Now $300 (or $1,000!) sounds like a lot to ascend tiers. But remember: Alo prices skew high. One outfit could easily run you $300+. Hit a few cute sports bras that double as tops (for the daring) plus a yoga mat later, and boom, you’re leveled up to the top before you know it.
But, spoiler alert: The biggest perks aren't reserved just for the highest tier. In fact, the middle tier, a-list, seems to get the better treatment for the spend required. All Access members get invite-only experiences and an unlock to a private Instagram account. Unless that private Insta account is doling out series discount codes, we find these top-tier benefits underwhelming. This author is only a-list so we couldn’t get into the special Insta account but if you’re All Access leave a note in the comments telling us what you see!
How You Redeem
Here’s where things get interesting...and a little limiting. Instead of straight-up cash back or discounts, you redeem points for a curated selection of products—kind of like Sephora or Lululemon's systems.
First, the good news: Alo’s reward options are real merchandise—not weird "reward-only" items. Usually it's a subset of their regular gear, or specific colors.
However, the bad news starts to add up fast and will have you going ommmm-WTF:
Selection is limited. The "bizarre bazaar" (as we are calling it) of reward items doesn’t change much, and sometimes it feels like it's filled with slow movers rather than must-haves.
Rewards sell out: In a matter of 2 weeks we saw the # of items available go from 8 to 2. Very disappointing.
Color/size restrictions. That yoga mat reward might only come in highlighter yellow floral explosion, whether you like it or not.
No flexibility to apply points toward cash off purchases or sitewide discounts (a missed opportunity, in our opinion).
And there's a big ol’ bummer in the fine print: You cannot redeem rewards during sale periods. Because nothing says loyalty like barring your most loyal shoppers from using points when they'd want to the most.
What’s the Value?
(Note: by “return value” we mean how much are you save relative to how much you had to spend to earn it. For example, if you spent $100 to earn enough points to redeem $10, that’s a 10% return value).
Since the redemption products can change, the below list of reward products at a point in time. Almost all the products are in the 6%-7% return value range which is quite good for retail as some brands (looking at you Nordstroms) are giving only 1%. From that perspective, we are impressed. And some products only require $400 in spend to achieve. However as we mentioned earlier, the product list is limiting, and sells out fast so you might only have 1 or 2 products to choose from at any given time.
🕵️♂️ ANY Fine Print?
You will go from mindfulness to mindf***ness with their fine print rules.
No redeeming during sales: That’s right. No matter how much you spend during sales, you can’t attach a reward. Rare in loyalty land and not something to be proud of.
Point Expiration: Points expire after 24 months, no matter what. (Generous compared to some programs, but still something to watch.)
Welcome and Birthday Gifts: In theory, you get both. In practice? This writer didn’t get the welcome gift...despite racking up 800 points. (Was I ghosted like a bad Tinder date? Still investigating.)
No points accelerators: Unlike other programs that throw in bonus point days to juice up your balance, Alo doesn’t show any love here.
OUR VERDICT:
Overall, Alo Access is a good idea in a half-lotus execution. It’s not as bad as Lululemon’s program, but that’s nothing to brag about.
Rewarded for simplicity, good return value, and solid rewards offerings (when available).
Robbed for the restrictive redemption system, limited and sold-out catalog, odd blackout rules, and underwhelming highest-tier benefits.
If you’re already an Alo addict, you might as well earn the points since it’s free and you could redeem for something eventually. But if you’re hoping to score something epic, prepare to either be patient or...very flexible.
We are giving this a Robbed but if Alo adds more variety to their rewards bazaar it can easily change.
Rewarded or Robbed?
🚫 ROBBED!
Leave us a comment! Do you agree or disagree? Any further tips about Alo Access?
