Supermarket shoppers choose price over loyalty

Supermarket loyalty cards don’t inspire customer loyalty, according to research from shopping website Quidco.com, which found that the average UK consumer shopped at five different supermarket chains in the last three months.

Although six in ten people said loyalty programmes were important when choosing where to shop, and two-thirds said they carried both a Nectar card and Tesco Clubcard, only one in ten said it was the main reason that they shopped at their favourite supermarket, and most shopped at other chains as well.

Price was the most important factor when choosing where to buy groceries, but quality of products, special offers and convenience were also rated as important by more than nine out of ten shoppers.

Almost four in ten (38%) said they order at least some of their groceries online, to save time and avoid carrying heavy bags. One in six people (17%) said that shopping for groceries online helped them to stick to their budget, as they weren’t tempted to buy things they didn’t need.

Nicola Frame from Quidco.com says:

“Supermarkets run loyalty schemes to collect useful data about their customers and to target them with appropriate offers, but the reality is that they’re not the main factor when people choose where they’re going to shop. Rather than build up loyalty points, most people say they want good prices or a discount, and they want to shop wherever is most convenient – so it’s no surprise that grocery shoppers are going online, where they can compare prices and take advantage of voucher code and cashback deals.”

Example voucher code and cashback offers available at Quidco.com include:

• Tesco.com: new customers earn £5 cashback, plus a 10% discount if they spend £50 or more
• Sainsbury’s: earn 50p cashback on every grocery shop, plus up to 5% cashback on other purchases
• Asda.com: new customers earn £5 cashback
• Mysupermarket.co.uk: new customers earn £5 cashback when they shop at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda or Ocado