With the cost of living continuing to hit families in the pocket, supermarket shoppers are scrambling to find ways to cut down their bills. One way to save money is by signing up to supermarket reward schemes.
Most supermarkets nowadays have a loyalty scheme of sorts. Tesco's Clubcard is probably the most well known, by Sainsbury's has Nectary Card, M&S Sparks Card, Lidl has the Plus app, while there's the Waitrose’s card, the My Morrisons card, and Asda’s new rollout
Each one has different perks and buzz words to make you want to join. There's huge discounts to be had through Clubcard and Waitrose offers personalised deals.
BirminghamLive wanted to find out which loyalty scheme is actually worth using. Is Tesco's Clubcard really supreme?
They used every card for a couple of months to find out. Here's what reviews writer Rebecca Astill found:
Tesco Clubcard
How does it work?
Collect points on everything you buy instore or online by scanning your Tesco Clubcard or typing in your unique code. £1 spent equals one point except for fuel, which is one point for every £2 spent.
For every 150 points, you get a £1.50 voucher. That voucher can either be spent directly back in store, or tripled to be used on eating out, days out or travel. That effectively means you can turn £5 worth of vouchers into a £15 Pizza Express voucher, as an example.
Sign up here and view this week’s Clubcard discounts online .
Benefits
Ability to triple value of vouchers to use outside of Tesco
Clubcard discounts
Drawbacks
Less points awarded on petrol
Clubcard prices are still more expensive than Aldi
Overall: 8/10
All in all, the Tesco Clubcard is infamous for a reason, but they could be doing more. Tesco clubcard discounts are usually on bigger brands, and if you’re a budget shopper, you’re not looking at them anyway.
Tesco could do well out of discounting more of its own brand produce.
Sainsbury’s Nectar card
How does it work?
The Nectar card isn’t actually exclusive to Sainsbury’s, although it is now owned by the supermarket as of 2018. It’s also linked to the likes of eBay, Argos, British Airways, Esso and more, but Sainsbury’s is its only supermarket.
Nectar provides both personalised offers and a point system like Tesco’s. Points can then be spent back in store or with partners, including Vue, Caffe Nero and Eurostar.
You can register online for a Nectar card.
Benefits
Personalised offers
Receive vouchers with most purchases
Best variety of voucher partners
Drawbacks
Vouchers often involve spending lots of money to get a discount, and have short use by dates
Points system appears very random, a bunch of bananas could be worth 40 points and a bar of chocolate could be worth five
Overall: 8/10
Where Sainsbury’s Nectar card beats the clubcard in terms of places to spend vouchers and the personalised offers, it loses points on ambiguity surrounding the points system. Whereas with Tesco, you have a pretty good idea that £1 equals one point, the Nectar card is all over the place.
M&S Sparks card
How does it work
Back in 2020, M&S had a major overhaul of its Sparks card and removed the points system. It’s now quite different to most loyalty schemes.
The main perks are now personalised offers which build up the more you use your card, and the chance to win a free shop. Each shop also donates 1p to a chosen charity. Sign up for a Sparks card on M&S’ website.
Benefits
A charity donation with every purchase
Personalised offers
Each week one customer gets shopping for free
Receipts automatically load onto your account
Offers, though few, are good
Drawbacks
Very few offers
No points system meaning no vouchers
Overall: 6/10
All in all, though winning a free weekly shop would be amazing, M&S Sparks is not doing enough everyday for their loyal customers. Sparks is not very beneficial to the day to day customer, unless you are constantly making use of the personalised offers.
Even if you are, you’ll likely find you are going out of your way to buy things not originally on your list.
Lidl Plus
How does it work
Lidl Plus is an app rather than a card which can be scanned in store. If you build up enough points within a four month window, you can bag yourself rewards.
The rewards include a free bakery item for £50 spent, a £2 voucher for £100, and a £10 voucher for £200. Lidl Plus also shows discounts exclusive to the app.
After each purchase, if the app has been scanned, you’ll receive a digital scratchcard which can sometimes lead to vouchers and free products.
You’ll have to download the app to use Lidl Plus.
Benefits
Digital receipts on the app whenever Lidl Plus is scanned
Scratchcard after each purchase
A £10 for £200 spent is perfect for a big family who is spending a lot
Drawbacks
QR code cannot be added to Apple wallet
Points system has high targets and resets every four months
Offers are not personalised
Overall: 5/10
Although the Lidl Plus scheme isn’t going to blow anyone away, it’s there, it saves you the pennies here and there, and it’s reliable. It would definitely be improved if the points system ran over a longer period than four months.
My Morrisons
How does it work?
Like the Sparks card, Morrisons has turned away from a points system and instead to instant offers. Register for MyMorrisons online.
Benefits
Offers are attractive for larger families, options like £5 off a £40 shop
Drawbacks
Very few offers shown at one points
QR code cannot be added to apple wallet
Shoppers have to actively look for discounts to get any benefit
Overall: 3/10
My Morrisons is probably the most disappointing supermarket I have looked at. Scrapping the points system makes little sense to me, though a slow process it adds up to more in the long run than half-hearted personalised offers.
My Waitrose card
How does it work?
My Waitrose has recently , again scrapping the points scheme in favour of personalised offers. Shoppers can now pick from a selection of vouchers every week based on their shopping habits. You can sign up to MyWaitrose online .
Benefits
Loyalty scheme is easy to understand
Drawbacks
It’s a very basic and boring model
Vouchers are based on items you have bought before, when often you won’t repeat meals for a few weeks
Loyalty card often doesn’t scan on self-checkout machines
Overall: 2/10
The Waitrose loyalty scheme is incredibly basic and while it helps with essentials you often rebuy, it doesn’t go far enough. I’ve found there is little incentive to scan my card at checkout.
Asda Rewards
How does it work?
Asda Rewards is brand new and only being trialled in selected stores. With the tagline, ‘Pounds, not points’, you can scan your digital card in the Asda Rewards app to build a ‘Cashpot’ to spend in Asda, which is effectively a points system.
There are also yellow starred products in store, which earn you 10 per cent back in Asda pounds. There are also in store missions you can complete to earn Asda Pounds, which all go towards money off at Asda, which have to be used within six months. You’ll have to download the app to use Asda Rewards.
Benefits
Asda has been missing a loyalty scheme for a while, it’s refreshing to finally have one
Reward scheme seems generous - you can get £2.50 cashback for buying toilet roll
Starred items earn 10 per cent cashback
Drawbacks
Money earned back has to be spent in Asda
Overall: 9/10
The Asda Rewards scheme is the most generous I have looked at. As exciting as it may be to have lots of rewards partners, Asda has cut out the outside noise and done what we really need in the current climate, where luxury items were sacrificed a long time ago - money off our essentials.
The offers are all on the type of thing you’re likely to buy in your weekly shop, it’s hard to fault this scheme.
Final verdict
Asda 9/10
Tesco 8/10
Sainsbury’s 8/10
M&S 6/10
Lidl 5/10
Morrisons 3/10
Waitrose 2/10
