- Supermarket will no longer give loyalty card holders 2p for every £1 spent
- Instead, it will focus on ‘member-only’ prices – which have proved controversial
Co-op has revealed plans to scrap cashback for loyalty card holders, and instead offer more discounts through ‘member-only’ prices.
The supermarket group, which runs over 2,400 food stores, said in an email to its members that they will no longer receive 2p back for every £1 spent from January 2024.
Customers will have until the end of 2024 to spend any money on their cards.
Scrapped: Co-op will no longer give shoppers 2p back for every £1 spent
From 24 January, Co-op said its members will see a ‘significantly increased number of member prices and deals in all our businesses,’ with member prices expanding to cover branded and own-brand foods for the first time.
Member prices are discounts offered only to people with loyalty cards. They are now offered by most supermarkets, but have proved controversial as signing up to a card requires sharing your personal data.
Shoppers without the cards can also be left paying much more for staple items.
Co-op launched its member prices in April last year in a bid to rival the likes of Tesco’s Clubcard prices and Sainsbury’s Nectar prices.
The supermarket also said it has fixed the list of own-brand products that member prices are applied to, meaning that they will not change due to promotional periods or be dependent on availability.
A Co-op spokeswoman told This is Money that its new focus on member prices will deliver a ’90 per cent increase on rewards’ compared with its previous mechanism.
‘We know times are tough for our member owners and communities right now, which is why we’ve listened and are making some changes to give more value back to them whilst still supporting local communities,’ the spokeswoman added.
Controversy over member prices
Last year, Which? criticised rival retailers Tesco and Sainsbury’s for using ‘potentially dodgy tactics’ in some of their loyalty offers for customers.
It said the firms are sometimes offering customers deals that do not necessarily constitute a genuine saving’.
Sainsbury’s has refuted the claims and said the Which? findings were based on a ‘flawed methodology’.
In November, the Competition and Markets Authority said it plans to launched a probe into member prices offered by Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said at the time: ‘We have seen an increase in the use of loyalty scheme pricing by supermarkets, which means that price promotions are only available to people who sign up for loyalty cards.
‘This raises a number of questions about the impact of loyalty scheme pricing on consumers and competition and the CMA will launch a review in January 2024.’
