Marks & Spencer launches a loyalty card - here's how it compares to Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose

Marks & Spencer has belatedly launched a loyalty card scheme – but is its offer competitive?

It is no surprise that Marks & Spencer has decided to get in on the act (Getty Images)

When Tesco launched its Clubcard 20 years ago, little did the supermarket know that it would start one of the biggest loyalty card revolutions on the high street, which would allow retailers to track your shopping habits and spew out tailor-made vouchers and discounts like a rudimentary version of Minority Report.

Today, loyalty schemes, points cards and price matching are commonplace and have become so clever that some retailers even believe they can tell when a woman is pregnant before even she knows, based solely on her shopping basket. And have you ever wondered why you get a voucher for suncream just before your holiday? It is usually because you have stopped buying fresh food which would go off it you were not jetting off.

So it is no surprise that Marks & Spencer has decided to get in on the act today, with the launch of its own loyalty scheme, dishing out “sparks” points to customers, with money-off vouchers and personalised deals.

As Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, M&S’s marketing boss, explained: “The global consumer space is a challenge. We produce a lot of stuff and the brand is the glue of why they come to us. If you can show them your engagement, your understanding, your personal conversation – then you have them for life. This is paradoxical, because as we grow globally we also become more local and personalised.”

Points are collected for every purchase and will ultimately lead to things such as upgrades from still wine to prosecco in the £10-for-two meal deals, and invitations for wine tastings and sales previews. The launch comes in the same week that Tesco used another aspect of the digital data revolution, with the introduction of its new Brand Guarantee scheme.

Another aspect of the digital data revolution is instant price comparisons, again with Tesco taking the lead and offering to price-match each of its biggest rivals on branded goods immediately. Gone will be the scraps of paper at the checkout with a voucher off your next shop – instead the saving will be taken off the price there and then.

Morrisons also redesigned its own price promise and loyalty card, and no doubt Roger Burnley, Asda’s new chief operations officer, may decide to look at introducing a loyalty scheme to the Walmart-owned business too. With so much chopping and changing, The Independent takes a look at the top supermarket offers and whether they are helpful for shoppers or just for the companies’ bottom lines.

Marks & Spencer

Sparks, which has been at least a year in the making, was only possible after the company finally ditched the website which was hosted by Amazon. One of chief executive Marc Bolland’s biggest successes has been improving one of the high street’s more decrepit infrastructures, and bosses hope the new scheme will allow them to show off their technology. The exact nature of the benefits have not been revealed, beyond the usual fluff about exclusive invitations to preview shows and wine tastings. The key aspect will be whether the offers can hit the right customers.

If successful, it should allow Mr Bolland to finally end the company’s minor obsession with discounting and flash sales, allowing customers personalised offers and not turning the stores into mass jumble sales. In turn, this should keep shareholders happy and a perennially under-fire Mr Bolland may be given a few months’ breathing space.

Tesco

The Clubcard remains one of the biggest loyalty programmes on the high street – with good reason. Tesco has made millions from the technology and nearly flogged the data company behind it, Dunnhumby, for hundreds of millions of pounds, although a price could not be agreed by both sides.

More questionable is the new Brand Guarantee, which replaces Tesco’s Price Promise. Although shoppers, and the City, appear to have welcomed the new deal, in which the price difference on branded goods matched with Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury’s is taken off at the till.

However, gone is the price match with non-branded goods, which could leave more cost-conscious customers disappointed if they were to find the usually cheaper own-brand nappies at Tesco considerably more expensive than the similar version at Asda.

Sainsbury’s

The Nectar card is Sainsbury’s answer to Tesco’s Clubcard and has a loyal following, where the amount of points collected is simply turned into cash at the checkout, handed over in money off shopping baskets. Customers like the simplicity of it, which also collects data and targets shoppers – as does the Clubcard – but can also be used at retailers other than Sainsbury’s. However, there was some disquiet, when one of chief executive Mike Coupe’s first acts as the new boss was to reduce the level of points customers would be rewarded.

On its Brand Match price promise, the company recently dropped matching the price of branded goods at Tesco, only matching Asda, claiming that there is no point because, as one put it privately “everyone knows Tesco is more expensive than Asda”. The vouchers are handed out at the checkouts and must be used within two weeks, suggesting many shoppers probably never cash them in.

Waitrose

The employee-owned supermarket launched its myWaitrose card in 2011 and was instantly a massive hit. In fact, the offer was so successful, with free coffees and free newspapers to all members, that some of the benefits were scaled back, while the company faced bizarre accusations that the free drinks were encouraging the “wrong type” of customer. Earlier this year, the supermarket launched another successful loyalty scheme, which allows customers to pick 10 items on which they will always receive 20 per cent off.

Morrisons

Because of Sir Ken Morrison’s aversion to technology, the struggling grocer had never had a loyalty scheme until last year, when its then boss, Dalton Philips, introduced the Match & More card. Morrisons promised to become the first Big Four supermarket to match prices at the discounters or offer points which could become a voucher, along with other incentives.

However, last month David Potts, the new boss, scrapped the price-match promise, claiming the system was “too confusing” for customers to understand. Shoppers still get points which can be cashed in, like the Nectar card, but will no longer know whether they are getting the best deal or not.