epoints: new loyalty scheme to rival Nectar, Tesco Clubcard and Boots Advantage

We check out how the latest loyalty scheme stacks up.

epoints is a new free to use loyalty scheme that rewards people for shopping online.

But with well established shopper loyalty programmes from Nectar, Tesco Clubcard and Boots Advantage, what can epoints bring to the table?

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How it works

Sign up for epoints and you can start collecting points on nearly everything you buy online.

There are over 2,000 retailers you can shop with including Marks & Spencer, Argos, House of Fraser, John Lewis and Debenhams.

Unlike other loyalty schemes you won’t need a card to pick up points. Instead you just use tracked links when shopping online.

To do this you will need to visit epoints to check whether it has a relationship with a retailer you want to shop with. If it does you just need to navigate your way to the online store via the tracked link provided. This way epoints can record what you spend and award points.

For every £1 you spend you will typically get two or four epoints.

You also have the opportunity to earn extra epoints by watching videos, entering competitions, liking Facebook pages and providing feedback to companies.

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How the points convert

One epoint is equivalent to 0.5p and rewards are only available once you’ve built up 100 points.

You can redeem your epoints on nearly two million rewards including products, gift cards, services and experiences.

For example 1,050 epoints can get you a £5 Toys R Us gift card, 2,100 points can get you a £10 Amazon gift card and 4,515 points can get you a £20 Nandos gift card.

Members also get more than £50 of vouchers and discounts emailed to them each week.

epoints estimates shoppers using the programme can expect to accumulate £200 to £250 worth of points a year.

The company claims this beats traditional loyalty schemes limited to specific retailers which it claims generate an average of £25-£30 of value over the same period.

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How the scheme compares

epoints joins the long list of loyalty schemes available to UK shoppers including Nectar, Tesco Clubcard and Boots Advantage.

So how does it compare?

When it comes to collecting points, epoints is real challenger with over 2,000 online retailers to earn with.

To put that into context Nectar, the biggest loyalty programme in the UK, allows you to collect points at around 550 online shops, 15 high street retailers and through certain financial products.  

Meanwhile earning Clubcard points is limited to spending money at Tesco, or with a Tesco credit or debit card. Other than Tesco-linked products there’s the chance to earn with eight other partners including E.On.

And Advantage points can be picked up in Boots stores or online at Boots.com. Boots also offers Advantage cardholders the chance to earn points by using tracked links on its Treat Street website. But it only has around 110 online retailers in comparison to epoints.

When it comes to rewards each Advantage point is worth 1p but can only be used at Boots.

Each Clubcard point is also worth 1p and 250 points will get you a £2.50 Clubcard voucher. But the vouchers can be used for a variety of rewards with other retailers as well as with Tesco. Plus at the moment Tesco is offering to double the value of Clubcard vouchers when shopping in certain departments with its Christmas Clubcard Boost.

Like epoints, one Nectar point is worth 0.5p and can be also used with a variety of retailers for days out, leisure activities and other treats.

To compare more loyalty schemes check out: The top loyalty schemes for shoppers.

Verdict

epoints seems like a great new way to earn rewards while you shop online.

While many loyalty programmes are limited to a certain retailer, epoints allows shoppers to collect points at more than 2,000, through one scheme.

Remembering to sign in and shop through tracked links may be difficult, but if you can make it a habit you should be able to benefit from the wide range of shops involved.

The only downside I can see is that users won’t be able to combine earning epoints with earning cashback through a website like Quidco or TopCashback as both work using tracked links - so you'll need to pick one or the other.

More on loyalty schemes:

How to boost your Avios points

How to boost your Tesco Clubcard points

Sainsbury’s to cut Nectar points for shoppers

John Lewis curbs free tea and cake vouchers on loyalty scheme

Double value of Clubcard vouchers with Christmas Clubcard Boost