Future is sweet for Nectar as it ranks top of the loyalty schemes

NECTAR has become the country’s most popular loyalty scheme, with 16.8m subscribers.

A staggering 50 per cent of households now swipe their Nectar card when shopping in stores and online and it has become more popular than both the Tesco Clubcard and the Boots Advantage card.

Gwyn Burr, Sainsbury’s customer director, said: “Customers are increasingly ‘savvy’ and they shop around for the best value for money they can find. At Sainsbury’s we have lowered prices and we reward our customers’ loyalty with Nectar points and money-saving coupons.

“Our customers appreciate that and over one million new Nectar card holders have signed up in the last twelve months alone to take advantage of the benefits.”

Uptake has been boosted by the introduction last September of a ‘coupon at till’ initiative, where customers are immediately rewarded money-off vouchers when they shop.

The Nectar scheme was launched in 2002 by the founder of Air Miles, Sir Keith Mills. It is operated by the privately held Loyalty Management UK, part of Groupe Aeroplan. It has 14 partners, including J Sainsbury, BP, Ford, Homebase and the AA.