Sainsbury’s scraps double Nectar points and customers left fuming 'Shopping elsewhere now'

Sainsbury’s recently announced they were launching a new way for customers to save money on their grocery shopping; the Nectar app. While this is a good move for those shopping at the supermarket all year round, it has now been revealed the company’s popular loyalty scheme which sees Nectar points doubled in autumn, just in time to spend at Christmas, has been axed. 

The Nectar Double Up sees the points that shoppers have earned on their Nectar card to be exchanged for Double Up vouchers at Sainsbury’s for just one week. 

So £50 worth of points would be converted to a £100 voucher. 

To take advantage of the scheme, Sainsbury’s customers had to have a minimum of 1,000 Nectar points on their account while a maximum of 10,000 points can be cashed in per card/account.

Therfore, many would save Nectar points throughout the year and then Double Up just before Christmas so they could use the voucher to get money off their big festive shop in December. 

The Double Up event used to occur once a year, usually around October and November. 

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But Naomi Wallis, co-founder of Skint Dad blog revealed the saving opportunity has been axed: “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.”

A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s 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.”

The news is now circulating Twitter and there are many disgruntled shoppers. 

Joe Mcdowall said: “So @sainsburys is scraping double up this year after closing my local store we were shopping online because of nectar points. Will be going else where now.” 

Krilencu commented: “A hearty f**k you to @sainsburys and @nectar this morning, for cancelling the annual Double Up scheme, which many households shop loyally for all year, and rely on for Christmas shopping, with minimal warning.” 

Lisa Allison added: “I actually cant explain how livid I am that @sainsburys have cancelled their @nectar double up this year. I save my points for this! You’ve made a fortune over the pandemic, yet you cancel double up – care to explain.” 

Jay tweeted Sainsbury’s official Twitter account directly, asking: “@sainsburys Hi, just read you’re scraping the Double Up and replacing with My Nectar Points. However, also read that this is only available with your SmartShop? This true? Don’t use that so how do I benefit? Thanks.” 

Sainsbury’s replied to Jay: “Hi Jay, thanks for getting in touch. I’m afraid you can only take advantage of the offers if you use SmartShop in store. Sorry for any inconvenience. Louise.” 

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SmartShop sales were up 173 percent in the last financial year and in supermarkets with handsets, 30 percent of all sales were through SmartShop, more than double the level last year at 14 percent. 

Mark Given, Sainsbury’s Chief Marketing Officer, said: “Our customers are at the heart of every decision we make. 

“With more and more of them choosing to shop digitally, My Nectar Prices is designed to bring them the best prices on their favourite products.

“This is a really exciting step on in our plans to personalise loyalty and really reward customers with consistently great value. 

“We will be listening closely to their feedback before bringing My Nectar Prices to other channels and launching more exciting and engaging ways to shop in our stores.”

source: express.co.uk