Morrisons scraps 'More' loyalty points in favour of personalised money-off discounts

Until 10 May, Morrisons shoppers could use a loyalty card or an app to collect More points when buying from Morrisons, in-store and online. These points were then turned into vouchers that could be spent at the supermarket in-store or online – you got five points for every £1 spent, and 5,000 points were worth £5 in Morrisons vouchers.

But as of 10 May, you can no longer collect points when you shop and will get personalised money-off discounts instead (shoppers previously received some personalised offers but they couldn't always use these instantly, which they can do under the new system). The new scheme's name has also changed to 'My Morrisons'.

See our Supermarket Shopping Tips guide for 30 tools and tricks to slash food bills, and read our Loyalty Points Boosting guide for tips on making loyalty points go further.

The new loyalty scheme will give digital money-off coupons from 10 May

Here's how the new-look Morrisons loyalty scheme works:

• You're shown a selection of personalised offers via the My Morrisons free app or online. These will give you money off specific products and will be tailored towards the things you usually buy, such as 15% off clementines, a punnet of blueberries for £1 (normally £3ish), and £5 off your next spend. How many offers you receive will vary from customer to customer based on your shopping behaviour.

• You'll need to activate the offers first, then swipe your app or card when you pay to use them. You can activate offers via the app or the website. There's no limit on the number of offers you can activate and the number of deals you can use per shop.

  Once you've done that, just swipe your app or card at the till to apply the discounts, and your savings will be automatically deducted from the bill. You can also get the discounts online, though this won't happen automatically once you've logged into your account. Instead, you'll need to type in a code listed next to the offer in the app or online at the checkout.

• Existing Morrisons More members without internet or app access will get paper vouchers at the till. Morrisons has confirmed that if you have an existing Morrisons More card but don't have internet access, you can still take part in the new scheme. By swiping your card in store, you'll get personalised vouchers printed out automatically at the till without having to activate offers beforehand. You'll then need to bring these paper vouchers with you when you next shop in order to get the discounts.

  It's unclear what this means for new members given loyalty cards are no longer being given out (see below). We've asked Morrisons and we'll update this story when we know more.

If you haven't already signed up to My Morrisons, you can do so for free online or via the app. The app is free to download on Android and iOS. Morrisons says it will keep members informed about upcoming store events and offers via the app, while the app will also be the home of all Morrisons' online services, including Morrisons.com, food boxes, and its café takeaway menu.

In addition, further features will launch in the coming weeks, including the opportunity for customers to give back to the community and a 'basket bonus' rewards feature.

New members will no longer be sent physical loyalty cards

If you sign up to My Morrisons from 10 May, you'll no longer be sent a physical loyalty card to use in-store – you'll instead see a digital card in the smartphone app, which you'll need to present at the till to redeem your money-off vouchers. Morrisons says this is part of a drive to reduce plastic waste.

We had previously warned those who didn't use a smartphone, or simply didn't want to use the app, to sign up to the loyalty scheme by 10 May to get a physical card to swipe for in-store discounts.

If you're an existing customer with a physical Morrisons card, you can continue to use it indefinitely. In March, Morrisons told us replacements for lost cards would stop being sent from 10 May, but it's since confirmed you can request a new one if the card is lost, damaged or stolen.

Got points saved? Make sure you turn them into vouchers by August

If you're an existing Morrisons customer, here's a quick rundown of what's changing when:

• Until and including 9 May 2021, nothing changed. Everything remained the same and you could continue to earn and spend loyalty points.

• From 10 May 2021, you can no longer earn More points and will start getting discounts via the new scheme. It'll work as outlined above.

• You won't be able to claim points from old receipts after 8 June 2021. Under the old scheme, if you forgot your Morrisons More card, you could have points added to your receipt instead. You can then transfer these from your receipt to your loyalty card at the in-store customer services desk. You have 30 days from the transaction to add points, which means the last day is 8 June 2021 if you shopped on 9 May 2021. You cannot add points from more than two receipts in any 14-day period.

• The deadline to turn More points into vouchers is 9 August 2021. Some customers choose to have £5 vouchers automatically printed in-store once they reach 5,000 points, in which case you don't need to do anything. However, others have to request vouchers manually – if so, then make sure you do this by 9 August 2021, as after that date any points on your More account will be lost. Read more about these options on the Morrisons website.

  It's important to note that you can only get a voucher once you have 5,000 points stored up – so if you have less than this left over, you'll lose them.

• Once you've got a voucher, you have just over a year to use it. Vouchers to spend in-store and online are valid for 56 weeks from the requested or printed date.

How good is the new Morrisons loyalty scheme?

Given the new loyalty scheme has only just launched – and some features of the app aren't even live yet – it's too early to say exactly how the new scheme compares, as it ultimately depends on the strength of the personalised offers. But the initial feedback from shoppers is mostly negative – here's a selection of the complaints we've seen:

Under the new system, most will also need to remember to regularly log in to the app or website and activate deals before they shop, and will only get money off certain items. While that may work out well if you were planning to buy one of the discounted items anyway, many will miss the flexibility of getting money-off vouchers to spend on anything at Morrisons.

This story was first published on 17 March 2021 and has been updated today (11 May 2021) to account for the fact the new scheme has just launched.