Sainsbury’s halves Nectar reward points to one per pound

Sainsbury’s has infuriated shoppers by halving the number of Nectar reward points it will offer members of its loyalty scheme.

From 11 April customers will earn only one point for every pound they spend in stores or online. The supermarket chain will also stop rewarding shoppers with a point for every bag they reuse, but they will get a point per litre of fuel bought from Sainsbury’s forecourts.

Sainsbury’s, which has seen sales slide, insisted its Nectar card – the largest loyalty programme in the UK with more than 19 million users – still offered good value. In an email to customers, it said there would be “lots of new opportunities to boost your balance faster and more value when you spend your points”.

Last month Sainsbury’s changed its Brand Match promotion, saying it would match its prices against Asda, rather than Tesco. Some were angered by the change.

One wrote on Sainsbury’s Facebook page: “Ridiculous to lower the value of Nectar points – same as Brand Match is Asda only. Does Sainbury’s not make enough money? Can someone give me a valid reason?”

Another tweeted: “Thanks @sainsburys for halving the Nectar points we get from you. It makes @waitrose and the new M&S Sevenoaks and Lidl even more appealing.”

Sainsbury’s said: “We are changing the way customers earn Nectar points and launching more high-value bonus events, like Swipe to Win, 10xpoints on fuel … and adding more categories to our Christmas ‘Double Up’ event so that customers can make their points go even further.”

Britain’s shopping landscape is shifting, with shoppers flocking to German discount chains Aldi and Lidl, which do not have loyalty cards.

Tesco pioneered supermarket loyalty schemes with its hugely successful Clubcard, and others followed suit. Dunnhumby, the company behind Tesco’s Clubcard, whose data enabled it to oust Sainsbury’s as market leader in 1995, is now thought to be up for sale as Tesco seeks to restore its battered finances.

Morrisons has just launched its own loyalty scheme, called Match & More. Escalating the supermarket price war, it pledged to match prices not only with the other big four supermarkets but also Aldi and Lidl – the first time such a promise has been made in the grocery sector.

Crawford Davidson, customer director at Morrisons, insisted that customers “like the idea of points-based supermarket cards; they like the idea of getting something back from shopping”.

He added: “What they find frustrating is all the silly bits of receipt paper they have to remember to get their price promise or their price match.”

Food prices across Britain are falling at the fastest rate since 2002, by 1.4%, according to the latest inflation figures from the Office for National Statistics.