Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
Emma Munbodh

Tesco unveils huge Clubcard shake-up affecting anyone with points or vouchers

Tesco is to stop distributing paper coupons under a shake-up of its Clubcard loyalty scheme.

From May, automatic statements and vouchers will stop arriving through letterboxes, unless the customer makes a specific request for physical coupons.

Instead, any accumulated points will be transferred into vouchers over email, with a barcode for consumers to scan at the checkout in stores.

Tesco told us it will make the change for those who regularly shop online, and that those users will get an email letting them know about the shake-up. Not all customers will be affected.

If you have received an email and want to keep receiving your quarterly Clubcard statement and vouchers by post, you'll need to actively opt back in.

The changes affect customers who shop online the most (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

You can do this by signing into your MyClubcard account online, clicking on 'statement preferences' and changing it back to 'by post' by May 5.

If you change your preferences after 5 May, you'll receive your May statement and vouchers by email, but will then receive your August statement and vouchers by post.

The shake-up comes amid a store transformation that will see the grocer, the largest in the UK, open 59 new branches over the next 12 months.

It follow's the decision to axe its Metro store format under a restructuring last year.

Chief executive Ken Murphy said the latest opening programme will take it to a total of over 2,000 Express stores and 1,001 shops.

Tesco is also expanding its reach with dozens more new stores (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“Our priority is to be the most convenient retailer,” Murphy said.

“That means serving customers wherever, whenever and however they want. No matter where our customers live, or how they shop.”

Up to 290,000 shop staff, along with call centre and warehouse workers, at Tesco will also get a bonus as a special "thank you" for their efforts over the past year, the retailer added.

The group said the payout "recognises the way colleagues really stepped up to the industry challenges of the last year" and came as it reported annual profits that more than trebled to £2.03billion.

But Tesco's chief executive, Ken Murphy, warned that retail operating profits are expected to fall this year, to between £2.4billion and £2.6billion.

Murphy warned profits this year are likely to be hit by the impact of soaring inflation on customers.

The group said it envisages its own costs to rise and it plans to invest in prices to remain competitive in light of rocketing food inflation.

"Clearly, the external environment has become more challenging in recent months," Mr Murphy said.

"Against a tough backdrop for our customers and with household budgets under pressure, we are laser-focused on keeping the cost of the weekly shop in check - working in close partnership with our suppliers, as well as doing everything we can to reduce our own costs."

Mr Murphy said the full impact of high inflation was yet to be felt, but that many are "starting to look at how to manage their budgets and the trade-offs they will make".

Those include how customers respond to the soaring cost of living and how much Tesco pumps into stabilising prices.

Murphy added: "We can see that customers are already looking at how they manage their budget and are making trade-offs."

He insisted the chain would help shoppers "in their hour of greatest need", adding "we are laser-focused on keeping the cost of the weekly shop in check".

It came as Office for National Statistics' data showed inflation hit a new 30-year high of 7% last month.

Tesco has been approached for comment.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.