Forum Topic

nectar cards -  an alternative view..

I abhor Nectar cards.  I loathe Nectar's blatant corporate premise - a thinly-disguised con-trick on our innocent public.  Nectar cards are the sole reason my mood darkens whenever I venture into Sainsbury's.As an advertising campaign the nectar concept is brilliant. The work of a sublime devil of a genius.  So outrageously insincere, it cannily bamboozles its victims (Joe Soap Public) into believing we are actually being thrifty as we instinctively buzz our way along the Sainsbury aisles loading our trolleys to the brim with their ever so carefully placed  bait.   Efficient yet thrifty modern age hunter-gatherers both male and female.When you shop at Sainsbury's you don't actually spend money.  Well you do, obviously.  But we're encouraged to believe we're actually SAVING our money by doing our big shop the Sainsbury way.  Thus, collecting our nectar points becomes the stuff of thrift.  Doing exactly what we were originally taught to do as good children – saving the pennies and letting the pounds look after themselves.Yes, we the public have been cast as nature's wondrous bees.  And what are Sainsbury's shelves stacked with?  Why nectar of course.  Gorgeous, irresistible, addictive nectar.  Sainsbury's ambrosia – their very own  food and drink of the Gods.   Spend £80 before next Thursday and we'll “give” you triple nectar points.  Wow!  Have you ever worked out how many bags of nectar you get when you spend £80 and opt to fill your kitchen cupboards with packets of stuff you don't yet need?  Sainsbury's even freely admit that their great Queen Bee in the sky (their pet computer) already knows exactly what foods we like best :- our favourite cheeses, our taste in coffee, our choice on the baked bean front, the bread department, the milk shelves, the fruit, the bacon, the olive oils, the tinned fish  you name it, they know it - even what bloody shoe-laces we once bought.  They know everything they need to know about us.  And exactly how to tempt us into buying more of the same stuff!  Get 50 nectar points the next time you buy … (offer ends in 14 days)...So yes -  when the time comes to check out, they have this clever little machine which pumps out a roll of solid gold nectar tokens tempting us to “save” our money when next we shop at Sainsbury's.  40 free nectar points when we buy yet another giant jar of the same coffee we've just purchased.  80 free nectar points if we stock up with more packets of “Taste the Difference” whatnots we once tried out on guests and vowed never to go near again.   Token after token to stuff into our wallets, study carefully, and rush back to buy more in order to boost our nectar pot.   “Boost” – such a sod awful and obvious Sainsbury word!To conclude and on the other hand....  I was also taught never to look a gift horse in the mouth.  So yes, I do have a nectar card which I present for any basic shop.  And yes, every year or so I do cash it in and let it pay for a big shop.  But I don't ever take nectar tokens (actually they long ago stopped offering them to me having presumably worked out I wasn't a proper bee)..  And I relish my freedom from the sort of slavery that nectar points are all about...

Stuart Kerr ● 2431d14 Comments

Brilliant rant. Keep it up!

David McLoughlin ● 2431d

Nectar cards aren't just usable at Sainsbury's - various other sales operations also take them. And other supermarkets - Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, the Co-op - all have similar card schemes. So while I appreciate your rant, it seems a bit hard to single out Sainsbury's as a target.

Richard Greenhough ● 2431d

One of my first jobs in London was some agency work trying to sign people up to Sainsbury's Reward card. I had a script which ran along the lines of "Excuse me sir/madam, Would you be interested in earning points as you shop which will enable you to make savings on your future shopping trips".The overwhelming majority of people bought into the idea of getting 'something for nothing'.One chap though smiled at me and said "I wouldn't have one of those if you paid me. I was part of the team that developed them and I know exactly what they're for".I have never had a store 'loyalty' card since.

David Roberts ● 2431d

Being back Green Shield Stamps I say!For younger readers these were issued at the counter(that's a place now called a checkout) and were like a sheet of postage stamps (those are the things which we used to stick on the top right of a letter which was something we sent before emails. There's were written with a fountain pen before Mr Biro came along.When you got home you would stick the stamps into  a Green Shield Book. Once you had filled the many pages you could go back to certain shops where you could trade the books for a splendid choice of goods.The more books you had the more you could acquire.My mother, being a thrifty Scot would say to me if I was going to the shops, "Don't forgot the Green Shield Stamps!" Nectar  cards? Where's the fun in those?

Adrian Irving ● 2431d

"Brilliant rant" did someone say?I read the 1st paragraph, then skimmed down to the end, where I found this:"To conclude and on the other hand....  I was also taught never to look a gift horse in the mouth.  So yes, I do have a nectar card which I present for any basic shop."The OP might just as easily have condensed his post to:"Nectar Cards are for Mugs!"Signed: A Mug

Richard Cathcart ● 2430d

I got my first camera - a Kodak Instamatic with Green Shield stamps. It cost 2 books.My mother used to get sheets of them every time she filled up with petrol. It was the kids' job to lick them and stick them in the book.

Will Watson ● 2430d

Will Watson ● 2430d

At least with Nectar cards you automatically get points that can reduce your bill. With Waitrose and Sparks cards you are meant to go online and select specific offers. These 2 are more blatant in just wanting to collect your shopping your data. Boots cards are worth getting, particularly if you are over 60, as you get more points.

Lucy Chambers ● 2430d

That is only part of the story. The data from these loyalty cards has a value. Obviously it allows targeted marketing by the supermarkets (and more obviously not just Sainsburys but all the rest - especially Tesco's with its 29 million card carrying customers). This data is also of value to others. It contains geographic, demographic and social strata data on spending for the bulk of the shopping we do. So this data is nicely sliced and packaged, and of course made anonymous, (so forget GDPR issues) and sold. So the supermarkets make money directly from your spending.But you do get the odd bonus, and you do buy into the quid pro quo by using the loyalty card. But what is next? Have the loyalty card on your smart phone, no need to swipe the glyph just let the supermarket access your phone (obviously for new offers that will be made available for such a permission). Now they will be able to track your movements - as you walk along each aisle, as you move from one shop to another, as you go the pub or restaurant, as you watch telly at home. Even more data to analyse and sell on.Its the modern world. What with facial recognition and all that tracking going on. That bloke Orwell got it about right.

Alan Clark ● 2430d

Bugger the extra points, it's money off that counts.Get store cards for two competing supermarkets. Use only supermarket A. Supermarket B will conclude it needs to 'recapture' you and will send you a bunch of money off tokens. Then use only B.A then decides it needs to recapture you and sends you a bunch of money off tokens.Repeat ad infinitum.

Ken Munn ● 2430d

I drove down to Portsmouth last week and filled the motor up with Esso Super which I do every so often to give the car a bit of TLC.I don't remember if I used a Nectar Card but I was somewhat surprised to receive an email a few days later from Esso thanking me for using their petrol and extolling the brand.You're right Alan, it's all very creepy.

Adrian Irving ● 2430d

I've had a nectar card for many years (well over 10) and haven't redeemed where I think points equate to an amount in access of £100 gained and logged into the card from numerous little shoppings at a store that isn't my main shop. If my main two outlets offered loyalty cards I'd have notched up far more than on my Nectar card. As well - I receive extra Nectar points for being connected to Ebay that pops in a point or two for each buy. Checking just now I see I have 57,853 points to redeem on what?

Bobbie Carnegie ● 2430d

Not sure if it specifically relates to Nectar points, but every now and then I get monies taken off my shopping total at Sainsburys by asking if there is anything to come off when I present my Nectar card. You might try asking next time you shop there if you can use some of your 57,853 to reduce your bill.

Richard Greenhough ● 2429d

I tend to collect Nectar points all year then spend them on the large Christmas shop. With Nectar and Boots, you can use your points against any S or B  shopping bill, unlike Sparks, where you have to specify what you want discounts on and your points are used as charity donations (if you have chosen a charity from a limited selection on their website, plus regular 20% off vouchers only valid for a few days). No such thing as a free lunch, as the saying goes.

Lucy Chambers ● 2429d