Sainsbury’s is paid £100m by Aimia to take Nectar off its hands – and the lessons to learn

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• Fenny says:

  2 Feb2 February 11:04

  Since the loss of Homebase & British Gas, I haven’t collected or used any Nectar points. The nearest Sainsburys is 10 miles away and I rarely go there since I changed jobs. Occasionally I stop for milk and a car wash at the petrol station.

  But Nectar points were so hard to use in store. At one point I had about £40 and wanted to spend some in the store near my Dad. Even though I had previously done whatever was required to use my points there, it was too long ago to still be valid (more than about 6 months) and I had to spend actual money,

  Just not worth the effort.

• Chris says:

  2 Feb2 February 11:06

  OT: I’ve got my Platinum charge card which will get me and a guest entrance into lounges. My father, my sister and I will be travelling and I’d like to get us all into the lounge for free. I’ve already got a supp card for my GF and therefore she has a priority pass card. If my sister used my GF’s Priority pass and I used mine for my father and I, would we be okay? Or are there ID checks? Thanks!

  • Optimus Prime says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:16

    They ask for the boarding pass of the person using PP so they may compare the names.

    On the other hand my brother borrowed mine and used it in Madrid without problems…

    • JamesB says:

      2 Feb2 February 12:58

      Must be a lottery then, they never asked for my boarding pass last few times I used mine. I have always just shown them a screenshot on my phone therefore I suuppose they think they ard looking at the app and so more certain account is mine than if presenting a card.

  • imbruce says:

    2 Feb2 February 12:24

    You have to show your boarding pass at he desk

• Zild says:

  2 Feb2 February 11:57

  Not to be pedantic but the term should be “gaming”, as in “gaming the system”. “Gamification” is the act of taking a system and making it more like a game, with the aim of making it more enjoyable (possibly more addictive) and therefore increasing both the number of people engaging that system and the time spent per user engaging the system.

  It does however make me wonder if gamification might be a way to improve (or at least differentiate) loyalty schemes, trading the existing rigid approach of X purchase = Y point = Z reward to a system of randomised, flexible rewards – your purchase may earn you anything from a few points to a free hotel stay, for example. Worth a thought.

  • Bagoly says:

    2 Feb2 February 19:47

    Interesting point.

    The example you give is one particular form of gamification – one might call is casinofication.
    IHG have added other sorts of games (E.g. the recent Memory Game)
    You are right that that can be enjoyable in its own right, and also provoke conversations (and competitions) with others which is often the point.

• J says:

  2 Feb2 February 12:14

  i just swiped my nectar at Sainsbury (swipe and win promotion) and got 5000 nectar points – that’s £37.50 to spend in Pizza Express, not bad.

  • Choons says:

    2 Feb2 February 12:23

    …except that the pizzas in Pizza Express are not necessarily that good

    • J says:

      2 Feb2 February 12:35

      ha ha – i quite like the leggeras but i agree they are not the best pizzas.

    • Tilly says:

      2 Feb2 February 12:51

      Not much i can eat in Pizza Express which is why I’ve not been in one for about 7 years.

      • Choons says:

        2 Feb2 February 13:37

        I went in one for the first time in about 10 years ago but in September I went back to use up some of the nectar vouchers i had converted into them for my kids, who never used them.

    • Rob says:

      2 Feb2 February 15:27

      Can’t escape them if you have kids ….

      • Callum says:

        2 Feb2 February 20:29

        I wasn’t taken to Pizza Express a single time growing up and can confirm I turned out ok…

        What kind of backwater do you live in if the only activity suitable for children is Pizza Express!?

  • john says:

    2 Feb2 February 14:46

    Only got 1000 here but they also gave me 500 bonus nectar points if I spend £1 (on one titled “Thank you for spending your points with us”). £7.50 ain’t bad for doing nothing!

• Scott says:

  2 Feb2 February 13:02

  Put slightly over £10 of petrol in just now and got a 1000 point coupon.
  Nice start and I seem to have over 500 points left on my card as well when I only had 16 last time I looked (they must have finally paid some bonus points I was owed).

  Another £10 of petrol later and maybe more + split shops over the weekend.
  Got towards £55 of points last time including at least one 5000 pointer.

• Mark says:

  2 Feb2 February 20:33

  I drop any loyalty cards out of my wallet that earn less than 4%. I’ll generally not bother opening an app on my phone for any less than 10%. So i ditched 0.5% Nectar quite a long time ago. Caffe Nero and Boots Advantage are about the only ones left.

  • Rob says:

    2 Feb2 February 21:43

    Not a bad approach ….

  • TGLoyalty says:

    2 Feb2 February 22:53

    but surely 0.5% is better than nothing if you are shopping in sainsbury

    tbh loyalty cards themselves make no difference to my shopping habits but a money off coupon i get every few months from Tesco or Sainsburys does. as do £5 off till spits from M&S

  • Will says:

    2 Feb2 February 23:22

    I think that’s sensible, often easy to forget to cost the time taken to administer any given loyalty scheme vs the payback from it.

    Only reason I retain a nectar card is I collect the points mainly through eBay and the ability to redeem at checkout in sainsburies using the card is very convenient.

    • Will says:

      2 Feb2 February 23:23

      *sainsbury’s

  • Mr Dee says:

    2 Feb2 February 23:40

    Unless I spend or intend to be spending large amounts over the long term then I wouldn’t bother using a loyalty card if the return is going to be minimal and it isn’t worth keeping a nectar card in my wallet for the one off shop.

  • Fenny says:

    4 Feb4 February 02:00

    Boots points don’t make up for the mark up on prices over Superdrug. Superdrug do their own loyalty scheme and give NUS discount.

    • andy says:

      4 Feb4 February 19:25

      And it’s very easy to get an NUS card. £32 for 3 years

• Mr Dee says:

  2 Feb2 February 23:36

  The only nectar redemptions I made were at Mcdonalds when they first started, as the value was so low and very few redemptions worth aiming for I never saw the point in using them apart from linking them to ebay for the odd few points.

• Scott says:

  3 Feb3 February 08:33

  I only use Nectar for Virgin East Coast trains vouchers.
  There’s nothing else that interests me.
  I generally use my mother’s card and give her the points, and if she shops at Tesco, she uses one of my clubcards to get me the points there.

  Ok, I might see if I can use my bonus points this weekend against a petrol purchase for a change. They’re about the only thing that will make me spend some money at Sainsbury (although the petrol station is well placed in the town centre and generally up to 3-4p cheaper than other places)

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