Find out where to earn your reward points, when you should spend them, and what you can get for them, including a free 2l tub of popcorn when you next see a movie. Plus loads more tips on getting more from your loyalty points!
Loyalty schemes are big business in the UK. Most of us have one or two (or maybe more) reward cards rattling around in our wallets and regularly use them. And the reason why is sensible. After all, if you shop regularly in a store and can put up with it snooping a little on your shopping habits, why not earn some points at the same time? Not only can they be used as cash in store, but most can be converted into other deals.
But is there a good time to earn points? Or spend them? Let's take a look and see if there are ways to get more from that humble reward card.
Nectar
Take the biggest scheme: Nectar. It has a large number of High street partners including Sainsbury's, BP and Debenhams, as well as 100 e-retailers such as Amazon, Argos and even eBay. You'll earn between 1 and 2 points for every pound spent at its partners (2 points with Sainsbury's), and 500 points is typically worth £2.50 to spend in store. Alternatively, you can trade them for cinema tickets, days out or other offers.
What's more, there are other Nectar partners that you may already spend money with. Companies such as Dollond & Aitchison opticians, TalkTalk, Thomson and even the energy supplier EDF Energy offer the chance to earn points. In fact, I would say as a rule of thumb, if you're about to make any kind of purchase it's worth asking if the company is part of a loyalty scheme, first.
Tesco
Tesco's scheme is arguably a bit better. Although points earned are worth similar amounts in store (1 point earned per £1 spent; 250 points = £2.50) you can choose instead to convert them into Deals vouchers which are worth 4x more. These can be spent on all manner of things, from RAC membership, restaurant vouchers, magazine subscriptions and days out. For example, £7.75 in Club card vouchers will buy an adult's day pass to Legoland - which would normally cost £31. Tesco partners include Johnson's dry cleaners, Powergen, Marriott hotels and Nationwide Auto Centres.
Boots
The most lucrative scheme on the surface is from Boots Advantage card, offering 4 points for every £1 spent (1 point = 1 pence). However, as items are often more expensive in Boots than in the supermarkets or Superdrug, it is usually worth shopping around to ensure you're not paying more, simply for the points.
Extra points
Taking advantage of extra point promotions can boost your balance enormously but, as always, you need to make sure you're not paying more for items than you would elsewhere. Nectar and Tesco will typically send out a statement showing points accrued each quarter, which usually includes extra point vouchers for various partners, often requiring a minimum spend. (Tesco also sends out the actual Clubcard vouchers that you have accrued.) Try and save up any smaller, non-urgent purchases for one big shop where you can grab these extra points.
Tesco also tends to offer extra points in store or online if you buy a certain item, which is great if you'd have bought the item anyway.
Joining a club with Tesco will also mean you'll periodically receive more extra point vouchers, or even double points per shop coupons. Clubs to sign up to include Baby & Toddler, Food, Healthy Living and Wine.
And Boots regularly runs triple-points weekends (usually around bank holidays!). Do the majority of your shopping then (an ideal time to stock up on mobile-phone top-up cards, or Buy One Get One Free offers etc) and you'll get a whopping 12 points per £1 spent in store.
Don't ignore the Advantage card machines in Boots stores too; by inserting your card you can print out vouchers for a number of offers, extra points (and sometimes for freebies such as trial size shampoos).
Re-use your carrier bags in Tesco and you'll earn an extra Clubcard point for each one.
Promotions
Timing your purchases with other offers can save money. The Daily Mail, for instance, has a promotion on at the moment offering 20% off at Debenhams. Save up any purchases and you'll get 20% off the lot, and you could redeem those extra Nectar point minimum-spend vouchers, too.
Spending points
And of course, there's the fun bit, spending the points. Many people choose to save up their points either for a big supermarket shop, or for Christmas. However, as I've mentioned, spending the points in the supermarket is not usually the best use of them as they can be worth far more elsewhere (in particular the Tesco points).
Keep your eyes open instead for special deals. This usually means keeping an eye on the websites (it is thus well worth signing up to the sites to get emailed any offers early). Nectar in particular often offers special deals to get more from your points, for example, this summer it offered 50% off the number of points required for its magazine subscriptions and theatre tickets, as long as you ordered within a certain time frame. If you don't have anything in mind you'd like to spend your points on, waiting for summer promotions can be lucrative.
However, if the idea of saving up your points for a big Christmas food-shop appeals, Tesco Clubcard offers a Christmas Club. Instead of receiving vouchers throughout the year you'll get them all in November, and by topping up your account with cash at the till, you will get extra bonus points, too.
As a final note, Tesco has joined Airmiles, so if you're an avid collector you could boost your miles with Clubcard points.
A current offer
Most of the schemes offer some kind of promotion from time to time. Nectar is currently offering a free 2 litre tub of popcorn to anyone buying a Vue cinema ticket with Nectar points (one adult admission costs 1,000 points outside the M25, and 1,300 within it). You need to be quite quick though, because the offer ends on 18 September. When you realise 1,000 points is worth just £5 in Sainsbury's, while cinema tickets can cost anything up to £9 (with popcorn an extra £2+) it's not a bad return on those points!
So there you have it, a few ways to get the most from your loyalty points. Think carefully about what you want, take advantage of extra points coupons and bonus weekends and keep an eye out for any other offers. And don't be afraid to wait to spend those points; you never know what offer is coming up. But remember, paying more for an item simply to earn points is a waste of time. Happy collecting!