How to make the most of supermarket loyalty cards

Looking to save some money on your food shop? This guide has everything you need to know about saving money on your weekly grocery shop by using loyalty schemes.

We’ve taken a look at the nine biggest supermarket loyalty schemes in the UK, from Tesco Clubcard to Lidl Plus.

We’ll explain how each loyalty scheme works, as well as the key benefits and drawbacks of each. Learn how to get the most out of the rewards you earn, whether that’s spending your points at a partner retailer or getting in-store discounts.

Whether you’re loyal to one particular supermarket or you enjoy shopping around, discover all the perks available for you to take advantage of.

Supermarket loyalty schemes at a glance

Supermarket loyalty schemes can work in a variety of ways. Some supermarkets reward customers with points for every pound they spend in store or online, whereas others choose to give exclusive member prices and money-off discounts instead.

Sainsbury’s Nectar

All you need to do is scan your Nectar card or app at the checkout in store, or log in to your Nectar account through the Sainsbury’s website if you’re shopping online.

Sainsbury's offer shop-wide Nectar Prices which are updated weekly. You can get price reductions on a wide range of discounted products, from fruit and veg to fizzy drinks.

Scan your Nectar card at the checkout and the price of these items will be automatically reduced.

With Your Nectar Prices, you can get access to exclusive discounts on the products you buy regularly, which can be found in the Nectar app.

How can I earn more points?

You can earn more Sainsbury’s Nectar Card points by filling your car at a Sainsbury’s petrol station, or spending with your Sainsbury's credit card or American Express Nectar credit card.

Another easy way to earn more Nectar points is to sign up to Nectar Canvass surveys. By completing these online surveys and other small tasks like product testing and even focus groups, you can earn bonus points to spend on future shops.

How do I spend my rewards?

If you want to spend your Nectar points at Sainsbury’s, you can do this by scanning your Nectar card at the checkout. The process is the same if you’re redeeming your Nectar points at one of their participating partners, such as Argos and Habitat.

Sainsbury's partner offers include:

 Caffè Nero

 Eurostar

 British Airways

 Dulux Decorator Centre

 Argos

 Esso

If you're budgeting for the festive season, you can save up your Clubcard vouchers throughout the year to spend on your Christmas food shop in December.

When you’re walking around the store or browsing online, you’ll notice that many items have a separate Clubcard Price highlighted next to the usual price. These are exclusively for Clubcard members, and the savings can really add up.

If you’re keen to get more discounts, you can become a member of Tesco Clubcard Plus for £7.99 a month.

This scheme entitles members to 10% off grocery shopping in store twice a month (you get to decide when to use your discount coupons) and 10% off all F&F clothing purchases.

How can I earn more points?

As well as earning reward points when you shop with Tesco, Tesco Mobile customers can also collect one Clubcard point for every £1 they spend on their mobile bill each month. You'll also get access to Clubcard prices on Tesco Mobile SIM contracts.

Fill up at a Tesco petrol station and you’ll get one point for every two litres of fuel you buy. Or, if you top up your car at an Esso-branded petrol station with a Tesco Express shop, you’ll earn one Clubcard point for every £3 you spend on fuel. If you're sending a parcel via Evri.com, you'll earn one Clubcard point for every £1 you spend.

You could also sign up for a Tesco Bank credit card to receive bonus points when you shop at Tesco or a Tesco petrol station. What’s more, you can even earn bonus Clubcard loyalty points for shopping at a range of other retailers when you use your Tesco credit card.

How do I spend my rewards?

Tesco will automatically turn your points into vouchers and send them to you every three months, either by post or through your Clubcard app.

To spend your Clubcard points at Tesco, all you need to do is scan your vouchers through the checkout when you pay for your shop. If you’re ordering online for home delivery, you’ll need to register your card to your account.

You can also use your Clubcard points to reduce the cost of your mobile bill if you’re a Tesco Mobile customer.

However, if you want to get the most out of your reward points, you should consider spending them at one of Tesco’s rewards partners instead. Exchanging your Clubcard vouchers for a reward partner voucher will maximise the value by up to double the amount.

Places that accept Clubcard vouchers as payment include:

The number of points you'll get per shop will depend on how many eligible items you buy. For example, they might offer 500 points if you spend £5 at their pizza counter, or 100 points when you buy a pack of doughnuts from the bakery. You'll also get five points for every litre of petrol you buy at a Morrisons petrol station.

Once you've earned 5,000 More Points, you'll qualify for a Morrisons Fiver voucher. You might also get other vouchers at any time, including percentage discounts and individual product price reductions.

Members can also unlock More Card prices on things like kitchen roll, meal deals, coffee and spirits. Just scan your Morrisons reward card at the checkout to access the discounted price.

The Morrisons More loyalty scheme also has a Basket Bonus feature. When you scan your Morrisons More card at the checkout, you may win a surprise treat. These treats include free £5 vouchers, flower bouquets and goodies from their bakery.

Morrisons sometimes hold More Collectors events where you can earn bonus points for spending a certain amount of money each week at Morrisons for four weeks in a row. During the festive season, there are huge rewards up for grabs during the annual Morrisons Christmas Collectors scheme.

How do I spend my rewards?

You may need to activate the personalised offers you want to use, although some are loaded automatically (so make sure you check before you shop!).

Then, all you need to do is scan your physical card or app at the checkout and your discounts and deals will be automatically applied. Any points you earn will also be added to your account. If you’re shopping online, make sure you’re logged in to your account so you can continue to earn and redeem rewards.

The Lidl Plus scheme also gives you the chance to unlock coupons when you reach certain spending targets. Past special offers have included getting a free in-store bakery coupon when you spend £50 in one month, as well as 10% off your entire next shop when you spend £250.

When you shop with Lidl Plus, you can also be rewarded with scratch cards when you make certain qualifying purchases. This means you could win even more freebies and discounts.

Scan your Lidl Plus card (on the app) every time you pay at the checkout. It’s worth noting that Lidl don’t offer a physical card, so you can only access this scheme if you own a smartphone.

How do I spend my rewards?

Any coupons or other offers you earn will be automatically added to your app, ready for you to use the next time you shop. Just activate your coupons on your app and scan your digital card at the till to use them.

While you can only spend your rewards at Lidl, they do offer some discounts with partners, including Jet2holidays and Tastecard.

You can think of it in a way like a savings account where you earn interest for investing your money with a particular bank. You’ll get an extra £1 for every £20 you save using your Iceland Bonus Card, which equates to 5% cashback credit. This can be saved for a time when money is tight, or for big occasions like Christmas.

In fact, Iceland shoppers can snap up a Christmas bonus when they save £100 or more on their Iceland Bonus Card before November. The 2024 Iceland Christmas bonus was £10, on top of the £5 bonus you'd earn on your regular £100 savings. That means by locking away £100, you can earn a £15 bonus to spend on your Christmas shopping.

How do I spend my rewards?

All you need to do is let the cashier at the till know how much of your Iceland Bonus Card savings you’d like to spend and they can deduct this from your bill. You can also add savings and spend your savings online by adding your card to your account.

You'll get exclusive member discounts on Co-op branded products and services, as well as non-branded items. These are called Member Prices. As well as this, members receive two personalised offers each week, which are based on their spending habits.

Other perks include the chance to win cash prizes when you scan and spend.

How do I spend my rewards?

Your Member Prices and discount offers can be redeemed in person at your local Co-op or on your Co-op online orders. You may also be given discounts for other Co-op products, including their insurance, funeral care and legal services.

These missions could be anything from buying a certain number of products from a particular department or spending a certain amount on your shop over multiple visits.

Whenever you buy a product with the Star Products icon, you’ll receive an instant Cashpot boost which is equivalent to 10% of the product price.

To make festive food shopping more affordable, shoppers can convert their Cashpot balance to Christmas rewards vouchers to spend in November or December.

How do I spend my rewards?

Any cashback rewards you earn from Missions and Star Products will be added to your total Cashpot balance. You’ll then need to convert your Cashpot balance into vouchers to spend.

Sometimes Asda Rewards offer Boost vouchers, which will increase your Cashpot value by a certain percentage, so it’s worth looking out for this as well.

They’ll also send you personalised offers based on your shopping habits, so you can enjoy money-saving deals on all your favourite products.

M&S also offer Sparks members a free hot drink after they're bought six hot drinks in the M&S Café.

How do I spend my rewards?

Use your mobile app to opt-in to certain rewards so you can redeem them either in store or online.

All you need to do is bring a reusable cup from home for your drink, then make a purchase in store, to earn yourself a free tea or coffee from their self-serve machines.

Other member-only rewards include:

• 20% off the cheese counter on Thursdays
• 20% the fish counter on Fridays
• 20% off the meat counter on Saturdays

You can also get 5% off your dry cleaning and laundry services through Johnsons the Cleaners at selected stores, as well as 10% off Waitrose Cookery School courses. Members are also given free access to a range of Waitrose magazines, including their Food, Drink and Health magazines.

MyWaitrose cardholders who also have a Vitality health or life insurance plan can also enjoy up to 25% cashback on Waitrose products that have the Good Health logo on them.

How do I spend my rewards?

To spend your vouchers, you’ll need to scan each voucher at the checkout when you pay for your shop or checkout online. If you’d rather print your vouchers at home and bring them to your local store, you can do this by downloading them from your account onto your computer.

Why bother with supermarket loyalty schemes?

Signing up for a supermarket loyalty scheme allows you to earn rewards for shopping with your favourite supermarkets.

By scanning your physical or digital loyalty card every time you shop, you’ll collect points to get money off future food shops, or other instant vouchers and rewards. These loyalty schemes are nearly always free to join, which means you can quite literally get something for nothing.

Some supermarkets don’t require you to spend your rewards in their stores either. Many shops have a range of partners you can spend your rewards with instead.

Whether your points go towards your food shop, a new pair of shoes or a family holiday, supermarket loyalty schemes can be a fantastic way to get rewarded for your essential purchases.

Why do supermarkets use loyalty cards?

Supermarket loyalty schemes are a great way for retailers to reward their customers for shopping with them.

When it comes to buying our groceries each week, we all have a choice as to where we go. Supermarket chains are aware that we have a choice, so they work hard to make sure you want to choose them.

How do they do this? Well, this is where promotions, offers and loyalty schemes come in. At their simplest level, you can get rewarded for buying things you’d usually buy, at the place you’d usually buy them.

Or, if you’re a money-savvy shopper, you can take advantage of these schemes by shopping around to get yourself the best deal.

And just because they’re known as loyalty schemes, this doesn’t mean you’re restricted to shopping with just one retailer. However, the more you shop with one supermarket, the bigger and better your rewards can become.

Supermarket loyalty FAQs

Still got burning questions? Check out these FAQs, or leave us a comment if you still can't find what you're looking for.

 Do Aldi have a loyalty card?

No, there isn't currently an Aldi loyalty card available for shoppers. The German supermarket chain claims this is because they already have a core focus on providing customers with high-quality food at low prices.

Despite not having store loyalty cards, they do have Weekly Specialbuys, where specific items are discounted for a short period of time.

 How do I register for a supermarket loyalty scheme?

You can register for a loyalty scheme membership on the supermarket’s website or via their mobile app.

Depending on the store, you may be able to pick up a physical card if you don’t want to do things digitally. It’s worth asking a member of staff at your chosen supermarket how to go about this when you next visit your store.

Once you’ve set up your account, some retailers will send you a physical card in the post but others are purely app-based. With all the schemes we’ve mentioned in this article, you won’t need a physical card to be able to collect points in store or online, as you’ll also be able to access your card on the app.

 What if I forget to scan my card?

If you forget to scan your card at the checkout, you may be able to claim your rewards retrospectively, as long as you keep the receipt. This is only a possibility for loyalty schemes where you collect points. It’s not always possible to add other types of rewards to an account after the event.

If the supermarket in question is able to add points to your account retrospectively, you’ll need to take your receipt and your loyalty card to the customer services desk at your local supermarket. A member of the team will then be able to organise adding your points to your card.

 How can I store my loyalty cards on my iPhone or Android?

iPhone and Android users can add their supermarket reward cards to either their Apple Wallet or Google Wallet app. This will save you plenty of time at the checkout but if you’d rather not store your membership cards in your phone’s wallet, you can simply leave them as they are and open them through the app like normal.

 What information do supermarket loyalty cards gather?

When you register for a supermarket loyalty card, you’ll be asked to provide some personal information, which includes your name, address and date of birth.

In order to best target your offers towards you, each supermarket loyalty app will collect data based on your shopping habits. This includes information about what products and brands you buy and how much you spend. They may also pass this information on to their partners.

Start saving money today

How much value you get from any grocery store loyalty cards depends on how often you shop at any given supermarket.

In our eyes, the best loyalty card schemes are the ones which allow you to spend your rewards in a range of ways. It’s unsurprising, then, that we think Sainsbury's Nectar and Tesco's Clubcard programme are among the best loyalty cards out there right now.

Not only can you collect one point for every £1 you spend in store, but you can also spend those points at a range of retailers and get double the value. And let’s not forget that members also get access to exclusive Clubcard Prices.

Whichever shop is your regular choice, you can earn something for nothing when you sign up to the relevant loyalty scheme, so why not give it a try?

Keen to find more ways to save on your groceries? Check out our handy food shop guide. If you're someone who loves a tipple, we're keeping our readers up to date with all the latest supermarket beer and wine deals too.