How to cut the cost of your weekly shop with loyalty card discounts
If you’re planning a weekly food shop, Alice Beer has the money-saving advice you need before you head out the door. Sainsbury’s have followed Tesco’s lead, and revamped their Nectar Card scheme. Rather than building up points, Nectar members can now access cheaper products and deals whilst they shop.
And with Co-op and Boots also jumping on the loyalty-savings-bandwagon, there are plenty of discounts to be had. But how do you save the most cash? And which supermarket scheme is best? Our consumer editor Alice Beer is here with the advice you need.
How are loyalty cards changing?
Loyalty cards used to be about a wallet full of plastic and a juggle at the till, so that you could earn precious vouchers in the post to buy tickets to theme parks and restaurants to keep customers spending. But now loyalty cards are much more about competitive pricing and the current wave of in-store discounts for loyalty members has consumers carefully comparing where points really do make savings.
Why the recent push on loyalty?
Supermarkets are under mounting pressure to retain customers, as they have become more focused on hunting out value and discounts. So loyalty schemes are changing to meet this demand:
Tesco relaunched its Clubcard in 2020 as the first to offer exclusive discounts to loyalty members. Tesco Clubcard generally offers 15-50% off products to members.
Sainsbury's and Co-op earlier this month announced similar shake-ups of their Nectar card and Co-op Memberships to start offering instant in-store discounts like Clubcard.
And, earlier this week it was announced that John Lewis and Waitrose are preparing to launch a joint loyalty card next year and have struck a deal with the team that helped create the Tesco Clubcard in 1994, poaching Tesco's former head of loyalty strategy, to run this new scheme.
Will it really make a difference for you?
Look at your trolley as a whole, not just at individual deals - will switching retailers make your weekly shop cheaper overall? - apps like trolley.co.uk are great for checking this.
Do you have access to all these deals? There are concerns that we'll see a two tier pricing system for consumers, where those without smartphones and apps will be less able to take advantage of better prices - penalising the elderly and less tech-dependent.
How much cheaper does it make my trolley?
Consumer group 'Which?' estimates you could save between 50p and £10 for each £100 spent at a supermarket using various loyalty schemes.
What's in it for the supermarkets?
Every time you shop with a loyalty scheme, you're not just saving money, but you're also handing over information to the retailers about your shopping habits:
From this data, the supermarkets are able to be more strategic in how they appeal to you, encouraging repeat purchases.
This data is also sold on to third-parties such as brands that the stores stock, so they too can be better targeted with their marketing.
Alice's 'loyalty laws':
1. Follow the prices not the points
2. Bulk buy if something is on a deal
3. Go BIG (stick with the larger stores) - Research by 'Which?' revealed that regularly shopping at smaller Tesco Express or Sainsbury's Local stores rather than their larger supermarkets could cost you hundreds more each year. They compared the prices of 69 groceries at a Sainsbury's supermarket and Sainsbury's Local stores, and found that you would have paid £477.93 more in 2022 at convenience stores.