UK: What are loyalty-card schemes really worth?

But some of these schemes are starting to rein in the rewards. In a few months’ time Sainsbury’s will halve the value of the Nectar points shoppers can earn on their groceries. Last week it also quietly scrapped the generous eight points per £1 shoppers who take out its credit card could get for the first three months of use.

This follows another rewards cut by John Lewis, which dropped the free cake and tea for loyalty-scheme members just months after it had launched it (selected customers continue to receive the vouchers).

Morrisons, on the other hand, has just begun to reward its shoppers for sticking with its stores, with the launch of its card last October.

Are any of the cards really worth it? What are the real benefits (if any) for shoppers, and how can you squeeze value from the better offerings?

Nectar

■How it works: Nectar claims to be the UK’s biggest loyalty scheme, with more than 19 million cardholders and points earned at a wide range of stores. However, the scheme’s biggest partner, Sainsbury’s, is set to halve the value of its points from 11 April 2015. You currently get two points for every £1 spent in Sainsbury’s, Homebase and BP petrol stations. Each point is worth half a penny. This will fall to one point for every £1 at Sainsbury’s. Shoppers will also no longer receive a point every time they use their own bag. They will still earn a point for each litre of fuel purchased. You can also shop to earn points onnectar.com at around 500 brands, including Apple, Expedia, Next and easyJet.

Currently you need to spend £500 to qualify for 1,000 points, worth £5 – or enough for a cheap bottle of wine. If you do not use your Nectar card for 12 months, you lose your points.

■ How to boost your points: Look out for special in-store promotions, where cardholders can collect double, triple or quadruple points.

You can currently earn double points by booking hotels and packages with Expedia, and can cash in points with other partners, such as Vue cinemas, Argos or Virgin Experience Days, listed on www.nectar.com. Points are often worth more if you put them towards meals or days out. For example, their value is boosted by 50% at Pizza Express and adventure course Go Ape, and doubled at Legoland Windsor or Madame Tussauds.

Tesco Clubcard

■ How it works: Tesco’s scheme effectively offers a 1% discount on shopping at the supermarket if not swapped for special rewards. You earn one point for every £1 spent on shopping in-store or online, or £2 spent with partners Esso and Eon.

Each point amounts to 1p, so spending £250 in Tesco will give you a £2.50 voucher. You receive vouchers every three months, which expire after 24 months.

■ How to boost your points: Where Tesco triumphs over other supermarket schemes is the value of vouchers swapped for rewards. By exchanging points for partner offers, such as meals out and day trips, you may double or even quadruple their value.

Every £2.50 voucher can be swapped for £10 vouchers for restaurants, including Café Rouge and Ask Italian. Visit www.tesco.com/clubcard/deals to find what’s on offer, with categories including travel and days out.

You can also make points go further by cashing in on “Clubcard Boost” offers. These enable you to double the value of points when shopping at particular times of the year, typically over the Christmas period. There may be additional “Boost” events throughout the year, so keep an eye out.

Boots Advantage

■ How it works: Boots’ Advantage card scheme offers the biggest points-per-pound offer. It gives you a 4% discount, or four points for every £1 you spend in-store or online, with each worth 1p. The card has a long expiry time – you will only lose your points if you do not use your Advantage card for three years.

The scheme also includes masses of brands on the Boots Treat Street website such as Asos, thetrainline.com, and hotels.com. You earn one point per £1 spent here, but there are loads of offers on the site. However, you need enough points to buy items outright at Boots, so cannot put them towards a discount on a larger spend. Also, they cannot be used on gift vouchers, postage stamps, prescriptions, mobile phone top-ups or Boots insurance.

■ How to boost your points: Boots uses information from your Advantage card to generate personal offers. You can enter your card into an “Extra Offers Kiosk”, which are typically available in larger branches. Alternatively, download the Boots app on to a smartphone to find offers that can be redeemed in-store.

Sarah Pennells of savvywoman.co.uk says: “If you sign up to its over-60s club, you get 10 points for every £1 you spend on Boots-branded products, as can people signed up to the Parenting Club when they buy baby products.”

Julia Bramble, 49, is a fan of several loyalty schemes. She lives in Devon, close to Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth, with her husband Simon, 51, and six children: Freya, 17, Jasmine, 15, Oran, 14, Mia, 11, Theo, eight, and Flynn, five.

She makes full use of the Boots scheme. “I shop strategically, on the days the store’s offering more points. The amount of baby wipes and nappies I’ve had to buy over the years means I’ve accumulated lots of points,” she says. “I also managed to fill six stockings with bits and pieces in Boots this year, using points. Occasionally, I’ll buy a treat for myself.”

She adds: “I used to do big shops in Sainsbury’s, but the points didn’t stack up fast. Since 2007 I’ve been using Tesco’s Clubcard, and I’ve taken the whole family to Legoland, Longfleet Safari Park and Alton Towers on points, which would’ve been too expensive otherwise.” She’s also paid for meals on the kids’ birthdays by using points: “I use the Clubcard Boost over Christmas to buy presents such as Lego for the younger boys.”

Morrisons Match & More

■ How it works: The latest to launch, this is a scheme bringing together a price-match promise, spending in-store and fuel purchases.

The cost of grocery items is compared with like-for-like products at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi and Lidl. If they are found to be cheaper anywhere else, Morrisons will put the difference in points on your card. For every 1p difference, you’ll get 10 Match & More points. This may sound a lot, but each point is worth 0.1p.

You need to spend more than £15 in a single shop and have at least one item that can be compared to be eligible for points. Points are valid for a year only, and you must build up 5,000 before redeeming these for a £5 voucher.

■ How to boost your points: Additional bonus points are added for special offers and you get 10 points per litre of fuel bought at a Morrisons’ petrol station. You’ll also get extra points when you buy marked products in stores or online.

As a general rule, never buy products just for extra points – search for the best value instead.

Bonus points

You can potentially boost the number of loyalty points you earn by as much as eight times and at no extra cost – if you’re careful.

Both Tesco and Sainsbury’s issue credit cards that allow you to earn considerably more than you would by paying with any other card (or cash). Both have lengthy interest-free periods, so if you pay off your balance in full each time in this period you can substantially boost your rewards without paying the banks.

Tesco’s Clubcard Credit Card offers five Clubcard points for every £4 you spend in store and on fuel, and one point for every £4 spent elsewhere. This card does not charge any interest on purchases for the first 19 months, or on balance transfers for the first three months, but after that has an annual percentage rate of 18.9%. Anyone taking out a mortgage with Tesco Bank will collect one point for every £4 on repayments.

If you use Sainsbury’s Bank Nectar Bonus credit card you get two points per £1. You also get one point for each £5 spent elsewhere. These points are all in addition to those collected using the Nectar card in-store or online. This card is interest-free for both purchases and balance transfers for the first 18 months, after which it has an APR of 18.9%.