Sainsbury's cancels hugely popular Nectar promotion in big loyalty scheme shake-up

SAINSBURY'S has cancelled its hugely popular Nectar Double Up promotion as part of a big loyalty scheme shake-up.

The Double Up event previously allowed customers to exchange loyalty points collected throughout the year for vouchers worth twice as much.

Customers can collect one point for every pound spent at Sainsbury’s, with one point normally worth half a penny in store.

However, this became a full penny under previous Double Up promotions. 

It meant shoppers could essentially double the value of their Nectar points to shop in Sainsbury's branches.

It took place around October or November in 2020, but Sainsbury's has confirmed the event has been scrapped this year.

According to money saving blog Skint Dad, Sainsbury's management have been telling staff that the event has been cancelled and won't be able to use the scheme for themselves as well.

Naomi Wallis, co-founder of the blog, said: "It’s disappointing to hear that Double Up has been cancelled, replacing it instead with the My Nectar Points offer. 

"Many shoppers save their points through the year to use towards Christmas, and will now miss out."

It comes as the supermarket announced earlier this month it was launching a new My Nectar Prices scheme, claiming shoppers could save more than £200 a year.

It will be offering personalised discounts which could see customers bag up to 30% off their favourite items.

Why has Double Up been cancelled?

Sainsbury's confirmed to The Sun that it has cancelled its Double Up event, claiming less shoppers have been using the promotion recently.

A spokesperson said: "Fewer customers have been using Double Up over the last few years and so it’s only benefitted a small minority of our customers.

"We know some people will be disappointed to see it go, but we hope more customers will be able to take advantage of our new My Nectar Prices offer.

"This gives customers access to lower prices and personalised offers year-round."

What is the new My Nectar Prices scheme?

Sainsbury's claims that customers could save more than £200 a year through the new My Nectar Prices scheme.

You'll get personalised deals that Sainsbury's says will be "tailored to personally suit each shopper based on their previous shopping habits".

The new scheme rolled out on Wednesday 22 September – so it's already in place.

To access the deals you'll need the Nectar app, where you can view your personalised discounts.

Then to get the deals in store, you'll have to use the self-scanner in the supermarket known as SmartShop.

This means you can scan your shopping on your smartphone as you go around the tore using the scanners.

You'll then need to pay through the app or at the checkout.

This is not the first shake-up to the Nectar scheme.

In 2018, the supermarket trialled a scheme where customers had to choose rewards in advance rather than earning points per pound spent.

More changes were introduced last year to improve the security of the scheme.

It comes following the success of Tesco's revamped Clubcard points scheme in 2019.

Last month Boots also revealed changes to its Advantage Card which gives extra discounts to members. 

We rank the best and worst supermarket loyalty schemes where you can make the most money.

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