Tesco unveils new Clubcard Plus subscription scheme
Tesco has announced its new £96 per year subscription loyalty scheme is set to launch next week.
The supermarket said Clubcard Plus, which offers customers 10 per cent off two shops worth up to £200 each per month, could save shoppers more than £400 a year.
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Customers will also get a 10 per cent reduction on a selection of Tesco brands, double the amount of data on a pay monthly contract on Tesco Mobile and access to a Tesco Bank credit card with no foreign exchange fees.
The launch comes as Tesco is facing increasing challenges from the growth of German discount chains such as Aldi and Lidl, which are threatening the market share of the major UK supermarkets.
However, chief executive Dave Lewis said the new Clubcard Plus was not designed with a “particular competitive focus”.
Lewis, who announced earlier this month plans to step down next summer, admitted the boosted offering – which will launch on 8 November – is designed to “take away the reason why someone feels they need to shop somewhere else”.
“If that is about providing better value while they’re in Tesco stores then that is what we would like to do, and this is a way of doing that,” Lewis said.
The latest data from market research firm Kantar showed that all of the Big Four supermarkets -Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – reported a decline in market share as Lidl and Aldi boosted their customer numbers.
Other challenges facing the grocery industry include changing consumer habits, such as shopping in local stores rather than big out-of-town branches and more frequent but smaller purchases.
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Richard Lim, chief executive at Retail Economics, said: “I think £7.99 is quite a lot per month for the typical Tesco shopper, I don’t think the 10 per cent off two big shops or the ten per cent off favourite brands is a big enough pull to fight some of those structural changes that are happening within the industry.”
More than 19m users have signed up to be Clubcard members since its launch in 1995, and Lewis credited the scheme with boosting the supermarket from the UK’s second biggest grocer to the number one spot.
Main image credit: Getty