[2] Points can then be redeemed for money off purchases at Coles Supermarkets, Coles Express, Liquorland, Kmart, Officeworks, Target and mycar (2,000 points gives an A$10 discount), as well as holidays (through Flybuys Travel or Velocity Frequent Flyer) and household goods (from the Flybuys Rewards Store).

[5] Flybuys began in 1994 as a joint venture of Shell, Coles Myer and National Australia Bank.

The program met with substantial interest at launch, with a million Australian households joining within the first six weeks.

[7] In 1996, Loyalty Pacific licensed the brand to a consortium in New Zealand, which began to operate a similar program, also called Flybuys.

[8] In February 2011, Coles acquired National Australia Bank's 50 per cent interest in Flybuys, with NAB remaining as a major participant in the program.

[12] In April 2018, Wesfarmers stated it would be demerging the Coles business, but it retained a substantial ownership stake in Flybuys.

[13] In November 2018, Wesfarmers and Coles announced the appointment of John Merakovsky as chief executive officer of Flybuys.

[14] In February 2022, following the resignation of John Merakovsky, Wesfarmers and Coles announced the appointment of Anna Lee as chief executive officer of Flybuys.

[17] Additional points can be collected from transactions on the Coles MasterCard (issued by Citibank) or selected National Australia Bank (NAB) credit cards, if they have been "linked" to a Flybuys membership.

[30][31] Flybuys also attracted concerns regarding privacy of information, and the ability for the operators to track members’ shopping habits.

[32] In 1994, Flybuys adopted a privacy policy based on OECD principles[33] under which it advised members that it might use personal information, such as name, age, gender, employment status and age of family members, "for marketing, planning, product development, research, Flybuys account administration and fraud and crime prevention and investigation."

Flybuys varied this policy in 2006 to enable information to be passed to Coles Group and National Australia Bank, the owners of the program, unless directed otherwise by members.