Loyalty Cards - Do they really work?

Its all about collecting data

I get fuel from Tesco, partly cos its the cheapest and the clubcard points can be redeemed against useful stuff every now and then.

I don't use many, but my BIL always seems to get loads of promotions using different loyalty apps, so I think that on the whole they can work, if you happen to work in a large town and put a bit of legwork in to go to Greggs as opposed to Costa for your lunch (which isn't much legwork TBH).

My data is all over the place, stopped caring years ago.

I have just seen that McDonalds are introducing a loyalty scheme where you get points when you buy McMenu stuff and it made me wonder if these schemes ever really work. I am sure the marketing ghuys think they must but I am not convinced they do anything other than give away our shopping trends.

I think we have Sainsburys (Nectar), Tesco, Waitrose, M&S, Boots and a few other cards but shop in the one because it is the nearest ‘big store’ about a mile away, one because it is the nearest ‘little store’ about 1/4 mile away and the others if it is something specific we need or we pop in while passing.

Would you drive past a Burger King to get to McDonalds, not for the food but fior the points on the card?
Are there any schemes that actually make you more loyal?

I think you misunderstand what "loyalty" cards are for... 😉

I think we have Sainsburys (Nectar), Tesco, Waitrose, M&S, Boots and a few other cards but shop in the one because it is the nearest ‘big store’ about a mile away, one because it is the nearest ‘little store’ about 1/4 mile away and the others if it is something specific we need or we pop in while passing.

I didn't need to know that but more importantly neither do they as the already know.
They know where you live and how far you travel, what times you use which and what you buy at that specific store ... and also what you might buy on impulse.

Also if you drive then Tesco use APNR and bought the DVLA records so they can link to your car as well. (Technically I think Dunhumby purchased on Tesco's behalf)

https://www.dunnhumby.com/case-studies/

Tesco for fuel and groceries.

Use the points for RAC and English Heritage membership, Disney + subscription, Pizza Express and days out at theme parks when on holiday.

We use a tesco points. So far this year, it paid for a weekend away in a 5Star hotel, family visits to varous different "attractions" in London including the Shard (which there would have been no chance of me paying for if i had to pay for it). As well as the Silverstone Museum and various cinema tickets and other "stuff" often at Christmas. usually redeeming at 3x value. Also often reducing £50 bills to under £40 by buying the Clubcard stuff, And most of the points come from the works fuel card. yes its gathering data, and leading you to buy certain products, but they don't own us do they???

Loyalty cards are to collect data on your buying habits.

Apart from the nice little cardboard ones used by small indy cafes who just want you to spend £35 on 10 coffees so you can get one free

They know where you live and how far you travel, what times you use which and what you buy at that specific store … and also what you might buy on impulse.

And how do I miss out or get exploited for this information gathering?

And how do I miss out or get exploited for this information gathering?

Just register for a "loyalty scheme".

I've actually got a whole paper somewhere I used to use often with a few tweaks on "The Value of Data" using Tesco/Dunhumby as one example when Sainsbury's didn't see the point.

More Cash ...

Apart from the nice little cardboard ones used by small indy cafes

and amazingly airlines ones .. which are now worth multiples of the market cap of the airlines.

Didn't Tesco have the first supercomputer in the country to enable it process their loyalty card data? Probably an urban myth.

We've had good deals on Tesco points, paid for theme park entrances when the kids were little, AA membership etc.

Didn’t Tesco have the first supercomputer in the country to enable it process their loyalty card data? Probably an urban myth.

I'm not sure when the Tesco Clubcard was introduced, but the Met Office had a Cray C90 from 1991. 16gb of RAM 31 years ago!

We're Tesco's biatches.

Mind you, they know exactly where we shop - online. So not exactly a stretch to assume they already knew pretty much everything about us anyway.

Points have bought a few Christmas shops, some cheap stuffs, a few overnight hotel stays, and Legoland entry or something like that.

If you're not paying in cash and travelling by foot wearing a baseball cap and a hoodie, half of this stuff is already data they got.

information gathering is really a tiny part of the schemes these days. the vast majority of shopping is done with electric payment methods (which include your name, and a unique number), joining someones customer profile together is pretty easy without a loyalty card.

It used to be the big hitter, now its more about engaging a customer, keeping them coming back to your store instead of someone elses

It used to be the big hitter, now its more about engaging a customer, keeping them coming back to your store instead of someone elses

To some extent this has evolved but then GDPR came along.
Loyalty cards are explicit Opt-in... so the data can be used for the purposes stated.

Using CC data and linking to personal data is between very tricky and impossible to do legally. It's certainly expensive to maintain separation and to prevent data being combined that then personally identifies a customer.

But the flip side is that it's the data that is used for engaging the customer...
Say you pop into the Tesco (insert here) local on the way home and buy some low cost items.. (dunno some onions and tomatoes - if they are still low cost at the moment) then they also get the chance to stick your fav bottle of Chablis/Designer Beer (insert here) they sell in the store you go to at weekend in the fridge by the checkout ... so your £5 shop is now a £20 shop...

I'm not suggesting they do this just for you... but they can spot the people who use the convenience mini-store and correlate to more expensive items that you usually buy elsewhere.
They can't do that using your CC information because they don't have permission.

The Tesco card is almost a requirement if you shop there regularly as there are so many special offers that are Clubcard only.

But the only reason we go to Tesco is that is beside a park so we can walk the dogs at the same time. No dogs and we are Aldi or Lidl. Much cheaper.

Use it for various big shops because the store is near where I run/bike and we get points, so it works. We've used the points to pay for a channel crossing. Got £150+ points sitting as not redeemed for years.

Friend was informed though the M&S one that she was Scotland's No1 buyer of avocado.

I use Nectar and spend the points on PlayStation top up cards. I also use Morrisons too but just so i can get deals, same as M&S.

Not bothered about the data farming as the registered person on the cards doesn’t exist.

Apart from the nice little cardboard ones used by small indy cafes who just want you to spend £35 on 10 coffees so you can get one free

This is me. I figure im going to buy those coffees any way (when in the office) so why not get one free very now and then. Most the coffee shops by me now have phone apps im not fussed about data to be honest who cares your data is constantly collected.

Its all about collecting data

This.
See also why they want to email your receipt these days. They can connect you as a customer in shop with your web activity...

Loyalty cards are to collect data on your buying habits.

There's more money to be made by selling this data than the retailer will lose on any discounts they offer for using loyalty cards, its about profits at the end of the day

See also why they want to email your receipt these days.

This ^^^^^^ also

My Nectar card usually pays out enough to buy some nice bottles of whisky at Christmas.

I only use physical card though, not an app.

Its all about collecting data

Well Blow me down Einstein, why did no one else think about (and worry about) that 😀

"The Tesco card is almost a requirement if you shop there regularly as there are so many special offers that are Clubcard only"

This is a slightly more annoying/worrying trend.

Nectar can have all my fake details along with most of my shopping trends. I spend the points on a Christmas shop and a summer holiday shop.

Accor Hotels on the other hand give me free drinks each stay, room discounts for every stay and "free stuff" via points. I will drive an extra couple of miles to stay in one because of that so I guess that is what counts for them. The fact that I lend my card to others so they can take advantage of the free drinks and discount while racking up my points is just the icing on the cake for me and I can still see the advantage for Accor

I refuse to shop at Tesco now due to their loyalty card pricing.

. the vast majority of shopping is done with electric payment methods (which include your name, and a unique number), joining someones customer profile together is pretty easy without a loyalty card.

The retailer isn't able to gather any personal data from card transactions. What they can do is create a token and then attempt to track that token across their stores to get a picture of spending habits.
But they don't know who you are,unless you also used that payment card online with them or happen to use a loyalty card then they could join the 2 pieces of information up to fill in the gaps. But they have to be very careful about any customer profiling without your consent.

Loyalty is all about collecting data and them using that data to influence your future spending. The value exchange with the customer for that is the incentives they receive for their loyalty, your Clubcard points or Sparks discount.

You can get stuff at Asda card-free for the same price as Clubcard deals at Tesco (Jura whisky...). It's how the latter lock you into shopping there thinking you're getting a good deal.

Can I ask why people are so against having their data collected like what impact does it have on your life?

Would you drive past a Burger King to get to McDonalds

absolutely even if its in the next town. YOU WOULDN'T?!

Can I ask why people are so against having their data collected like what impact does it have on your life?

"we won't pay out on your husbands life insurance, because he clearly had a drink problem look waht he buys in tesco every week"

etc

“we won’t pay out on your husbands life insurance, because he clearly had a drink problem look waht he buys in tesco every week”

So don't buy your insurance from Tesco, or make sure you buy your 'vice' from different places 😉

You can get stuff at Asda card-free for the same price as Clubcard deals at Tesco (Jura whisky…). It’s how the latter lock you into shopping there thinking you’re getting a good deal

Supermarkets check and change prices against their competitors on a daily basis. It's how how they make you think you are getting a good deal (look what this basket would cost at [insert other supermarket brand name here] )

“we won’t pay out on your husbands life insurance, because he clearly had a drink problem look waht he buys in tesco every week”

etc

Are there any case studies that prove that sort of thing though?

Can I ask why people are so against having their data collected like what impact does it have on your life?

Exactly. People seem paranoid about this stuff. It's easy to avoid if you want, but many will get a better experience if they run with it.

Website cookies is another example. Worried about being tracked? Fire up another browser such as Brave. Not worried? Crack on and say yes.

I know of a couple of Nepalese ladies who use their Tesco points to buy gold.
I don't know how but they make enough of an extra percentage to make it worthwhile.
This is in Aldershot to give some perspective to those who know the town and its gold emporia.

It’s well known that Insurers use your loyalty card info rather than autopsy reports which are really bad at spotting alcoholism.

Can I ask why people are so against having their data collected like what impact does it have on your life?

Probably none until they get hacked.
Same as signing up for websites and things, I'm baffled as to why people use genuine info on these things.
For example almost every site I sign up to my name is something like fhkkjh ghkkk, my date of birth is 1 January 2000 and my postcode is that of my old student house from 20yrs ago, since gibberish ones get spotted. (I did use my real name on here but that was many, many years ago when the Internet was still young...)
My insurance Co for example do need my real name so they can have that, but even they have my telephone number as 01233 567890.
Get a card if you want to, but give them some rubbish to enter into their system.

It’s well known that Insurers use your loyalty card info rather than autopsy reports which are really bad at spotting alcoholism.

Exactly. I mean why would they use your medical records when they can see you bought a packet of scampi fires and a bottle Stella on 19th July.

Apart from the nice little cardboard ones used by small indy cafes who just want you to spend £35 on 10 coffees so you can get one free

The pub I used to drink at every Friday and Saturday had a loyalty card system, buy nine pints, get one free. As I drank there anyway, and I still drink at their new pub, but they aren’t doing a card at the moment, I honestly don’t see a downside to the situation.

My insurance Co for example do need my real name so they can have that, but even they have my telephone number as 01233 567890.

They’ll be stuffed if they need to contact you urgently, then. I do hope your bank has a proper phone number…

I swear i wrote a second reply.

For clarity I don't actually think that I was just paraphrasing an oft cited example.

I mean clearly there is potential for it to happen. Theft of poorly stored data is perhaps more of a worry.

In a general non tinfoilyhat pricipal type of a way though, I don't particulalry see WHY they should get to keep hold of information about me and profit from it.

I don't care enough to not want those sweet sweet nectar points though.

My insurance Co for example do need my real name so they can have that, but even they have my telephone number as 01233 567890.

Did you "sign" the agreement that says to the best of my knowledge the information given is correct? If you're worried about supermarket information affecting insurance policies why no concerns about deliberately supplying false information?

My insurance Co for example do need my real name so they can have that, but even they have my telephone number as 01233 567890.

Did you "sign" the agreement that says to the best of my knowledge the information given is correct? If you're worried about supermarket information affecting insurance policies why no concerns about deliberately supplying false information?

The Lidl rewards app thing is quite good at getting me to shop there.

Basically you get a free bakery item when you spend £50 in calendar month, £2 off your next shop when you spend £100 and £10 off for a £200 spend. There are also weekly vouchers that can be quite handy - e.g. 15% off olive oil, 20% off nuts. Can be good for stocking up on non perishables.

Very easy to hit £200 shopping for a family, and it's a genuinely good discount off already low prices

It seems pretty clear from the fact that so few actually answered the question "Do they really work?" and everyone answered their own question about "What do the retailers get from these schemes?" that everyone is fully aware that these are data harvesters.

Now, would you be self-aware enough to sign up to a scheme that was honest about it?

WCA Loyalty Card

Sign up here if you are happy to do nothing and get free points, prizes and price reductions in exchange for us providing a better service.

Or does that burst the reality bubble and make you feel a bit uncomfortable?

Is TopCashback / Quidco a loyalty scheme?

I’ve made loads of money off them, but I don’t have a single loyalty card

The Tesco card is almost a requirement if you shop there regularly as there are so many special offers that are Clubcard only.

And that to me is where they have got you by the gonad’s almost believing that your one ‘bargain’ makes the overall shop value.

IMO all supermarkets are very similarly price over a period of time. They put the bargains in to tempt you to them, but then take it away elsewhere

Wife has Boots and Tesco, and she uses the exact same Boots and Tesco to do the vast amount of her shopping with Boots and Tesco. She buys the same things. month in month out week in week out. Boots you get a penny per point so eventually "free" stuff and clubcard gives you money off your shop which given the foods we tend to buy, aren't often the UHP BOGOFs and multi packs anyway, so don't make a massive difference to the cost. Bought cheap(er) Eurostar to Paris with clubcard points a while back that was quite good value.

Used to have an Avios through Barclaycard , but honestly; trying to figure out what points I had, what I could or couldn't use on what flight by whom started to hurt my head, so i don't really pay much attention to it.

Privacy is a concern but with as all of these, living electronically (ie as a normal person) in a world that has a vast array of wildly more sophisticated tools, the where with all, and desire to make use of them at it's disposal vs my capacity, boredom threshold, requirement for convenience to avoid them....It's an unfair fight. So If Tesco find it interesting that we've swapped from the 450g tub to the 950g tub of Fage yoghurt because the shrink-flation is less, then more power to them.

Or does that burst the reality bubble and make you feel a bit uncomfortable?

Not really it’s just another transaction to be weighed against it’s worth to me. I only have a nectar card, its only there so I can use the hand held scanners and therefore get in and out of the shop with the minimum fuss. I don’t think I’ve ever presented it at a till for any other reason or discount.

We get top see more detail about what you are buying and when so we can make sure we can get the right stuff in the right shops a t he right time to give you a better service.

Presumably as everything is bar coded and scanned they know this from stock control anyway?