Sainsbury’s drops Nectar Double Up loyalty promotion in favour of ‘invite-only’ offer
Sainsbury’s loyalty programme has come under fire from consumers after the supermarket dropped its popular Nectar Double Up promotion. Instead, it is trialling a number of ‘invite-only’ offers.
The popular annual campaign – which allowed the grocer’s customers to swap their points for digital vouchers worth twice the usual value – is being replaced with a number of different offers, including The Big Points Swap.
The Big Points Swap – which is currently being trialled for some users – will allow some users to swap their Nectar points for a money-off voucher worth an extra 50% in value; so £10 worth of points can be exchanged for a voucher worth £15.
The new initiative – which has launched this month – has been criticised for a number of reasons.
It can only be accessed via the Nectar app, the vouchers have a short lifespan (they are valid until early May) and it has only been made available to some of Sainsbury’s customers, with access on an ‘invitation only’ basis. Customers who didn’t receive an email invite will not be able to access the offer.
Some of the shoppers who have been invited to use the offer have also been left disappointed as the new Big Points Swap offer means they’ll get less of a boost to their points than they have been used to in the past – it offers a 50% increase in value, rather than the 100% given by the Double Up promotion.
Read more: Points make positivity: Nectar lets customers donate to charity
The change has been commented on by hundreds of consumers across a number of money-saving forums, with many stating that they rely on the Double Up promotion each year, adding that its removal was “poorly communicated”.
Shoppers also took to Twitter, where complaints centred around promotional emails offering to double the value while the app adds just 50% extra. This has led to some customers ordering
@sainsburys @nectar @GlosTSS
Your new BIG points swap is a BIG Con and hugely misleading, the email sent to me showed i would get double the value, in the app im being offered only 50%, you cant get anymore misleading than this!!! pic.twitter.com/lMusMFwaZj— Matthew James (@Matthew36906162) April 15, 2022
@nectar with the price of everything rising, do you really think it’s fair to only give some customers the option to participate in the big points swap? It feels very unfair – we all need all the help we can get at the moment, how can you target who can and can’t have it!?
— CheltenhamFoodie (@CheltFoodie) April 19, 2022
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We regularly test new ways to offer our customers great value on their Nectar points.
“We’re currently trialling a points swap offer with a small proportion of customers and look forward to receiving their feedback.”
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2 Comments.
i don’t use the app. i have no smart phone. this isn’t fair.
Price offers should be open to everyone, not just those with smartphones and apps. My mobile is not a smartphone. I did receive an email offering me the double up but cannot use it as do not have smartphone/app. I did not realise that the emails/offer was not going out to all customers. I was quite shocked to read that. Certainly not a fair system.