Boots shoppers to earn fewer Advantage card points as retailers’ costs rise

Boots is cutting nan points per lb shoppers tin gain connected their loyalty paper by a quarter, while offering discounts connected its own-brand products.

The wellness and beauty concatenation told customers via email that from May, holders of nan Boots Advantage paper would cod 3p worthy of points for each £1 spent, alternatively of 4p. They will support nan number of points they person already collected, which will still beryllium worthy nan aforesaid amount.

Boots besides announced that cardholders would get 10% disconnected its 6,000 own-brand products.

It is nan latest institution to make changes to its loyalty strategy arsenic retailers conflict rising costs from spiralling power bills and higher wages.

Sainsbury’s angered customers successful 2015 erstwhile it halved nan number of points they could cod connected their Nectar cards, to 1 constituent for each £1 spent astatine nan supermarket.

Last year, Sainsbury’s Bank slashed nan Nectar points consumers tin gain for each transaction connected their in installments cards. The alteration affected 1.8 cardinal progressive in installments cardholders. Before November, they received 2 points for each lb they spent astatine Sainsbury’s, Argos, Habitat aliases Tu clothing; now they get conscionable 1 Nectar constituent for each £2 spent.

British Airways has made changes to its Avios strategy that awards passengers loyalty points connected flights. As of this year, frequent-flyer points (which tin beryllium redeemed for early flights aliases different benefits) are awarded based connected nan value of nan ticket, alternatively than nan region flown.

Boots, portion of Walgreens Boots Alliance, said it had made nan changes successful consequence to customer feedback.

Pete Markey, nan main trading serviceman astatine Boots, said: “Customers want to beryllium rewarded pinch on-the-spot little prices and instant value. We’ve besides noticed that Advantage paper members are now much often utilizing their points to bargain essentials alternatively of redeeming them up; we’ve listened and person expanded nan strategy to springiness much instant reward, contiguous worth and little prices.”

Customers tin prevention connected hundreds of products done nan Price Advantage scheme, which has been expanded and allows them exclusive entree to little prices connected a scope of products, including toothpaste, deodorants and vitamins.

UK shoppers have been switching from branded products to cheaper own-brand items to prevention money, arsenic grocery value ostentation deed grounds levels successful caller months, peculiarly for caller food, according to nan marketplace investigation patient Kantar.

Shoppers posting connected Twitter were not happy astir nan changes. One said: “[Boots] said nan move was successful consequence to customer feedback … yea right! customers thought they were getting excessively galore points from their shop.”