Shoppers missing out on £45bn in loyalty points every year, study suggests

Eight in 10 women report falling out with partner over who keeps rewards

Nearly one in five respondents admitted having in excess of £100 of loyalty points they are yet to redeem (iStock)

Shoppers in the UK are missing out on more than £45bn of loyalty points each year, according to new research.

Around 10.5 million people either have no loyalty cards or simply haven’t used them over the past 12 months, the study suggests.

During a typical week, respondents spent an average of £86.57 on fuel and groceries – around £4,500 a year in total.

Taking into account the millions not taking advantage of loyalty cards, this corresponds to £46.8bn worth of points.

This is the equivalent of 100 billion pints of milk, 45 billion loaves of bread or eight billion gallons of unleaded fuel.

“The research shows we’re a nation of savvy shoppers who have been using loyalty cards for almost eight years on average and love getting something back on household spends,” said David Chilton, global loyalty strategy manager at Esso, which commissioned the research.

On average, respondents reported having three or more loyalty cards and estimate they are sitting on around £47.19 of unused loyalty points and gift vouchers.

Nearly one in five have in excess of £100 of loyalty points they are yet to redeem.

For those who do have loyalty cards, it is the more senior members of society who are likely to remember to use them – more than three quarters of those aged 65 and over said they never forget to use their loyalty cards each month.

However, the results suggested that the drive to collect points can cause friction amongst couples – eight in 10 women said they had fallen out with their partner over who gets to keep loyalty points.

SWNS