Supermarket chain Co-op has announced a major change to its loyalty program as it plans to axe points earned by shopping from as soon as next week. For anyone who’s already racked up points on the scheme, the balance will have to be spent or donated by the end of this year.
From Wednesday, January 24, Co-op shoppers who are signed up to the loyalty scheme will no longer be able to earn rewards or have donations made to charities when purchasing certain items. Specifically, they will no longer earn 2p in rewards for every £1 spent on Co-op branded goods or services to spend on future Co-op shops.
However, customers will be offered discounts on both Co-op branded products and services and non-Co-op branded items through its “Member Prices” scheme. Another part of the scheme also being axed is shoppers’ ability to earn 2p for charities for every £1 spent on Co-op branded goods or services.
Those who have accrued balances will be asked to vote for their charity of choice to receive a share of any money raised up until January 24. The money will then be donated to those nominated charities in October later this year.
According to MoneySavingExpert, Co-op is set to announce further details about what discounts, deals and offers will be available to its members after January 24. Current examples of offerings on ‘Member Prices’ include the lunchtime meal deal which costs £3 for members compared to £4 for non-members, and its pizza and ice cream bundle, which costs £5 for members and £6 for non-members, respectively.
For loyalty members who’ve accrued balances already, they will have until December 31 of this year to either donate or spend the remaining reward balance. It can be donated to a local charity or spent in-store on both branded and Co-op own branded items. The points cannot be used to purchase Co-op items for delivery via Deliveroo.
Co-op follows a number of other major supermarkets who changed up their loyalty schemes. These are the latest offerings from the chains, according to MSE:
- ASDA has a loyalty scheme which enables you to earn ‘cash’ rewards known as ‘Asda Pounds’ either by buying certain products, completing ‘missions’, or spending on the Asda credit card. Any Asda Pounds you earn go into a ‘cashpot’ inside the app, which you can then redeem for vouchers.
- Morrisons initially scrapped its points-based ‘More’ scheme in 2021 in favour of personalised money-off vouchers under a scheme called ‘My Morrisons’. But following feedback from shoppers, the points – and £5 vouchers – returned, as did the ‘Morrisons More’ name.z
- Sainsbury’s launched its ‘Nectar Prices’ scheme last April. It offers shoppers discounts on around 300 items in-store and online. This runs alongside its points-based scheme, which enables shoppers to earn Nectar points at a rate of one point per £1 spent, with each point worth 0.5p.
- Tesco’s Clubcard gives you one point per £1 spent, though here each point is worth 1p (and can be boosted). Having a Clubcard also lets you access lower ‘Clubcard Prices’ on some items in store and online.
