Exclusive: Tesco Clubcard holder? It's hugely expanding where you can EARN points
Currently, you only earn Clubcard points at Tesco and 13 other retailers. But from Wednesday 14 October, Tesco is launching a rewards portal, where you can earn Clubcard points at 500-plus stores when shopping online. We've analysed how much you can earn and compared it to other supermarket reward and cashback schemes.
How the Tesco Clubcard loyalty scheme currently works
Typically, when you shop at Tesco, you earn one Clubcard point for every £1 you spend. 100 points then can be redeemed for:
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£1 to spend on your Tesco shop.
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£2 (double the value) to spend at selected retail partners. Eg, Disney+, Alton Towers, Railcards, Hotels.com, Cineworld.
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£3 (triple the value) to spend at selected restaurants. Eg, Bella Italia, Pizza Express, Las Iguanas, ASK Italian, Frankie and Benny's, Prezzo, Zizzi.
The rate at which you redeem points and the retailers you can spend them at is NOT changing. See our Boost Tesco Clubcard vouchers guide for more info on how the loyalty scheme works. However, where you can earn points IS changing...
Where you can earn points is expanding
You'll be able to earn Clubcard points at over 500 retailers through a new shopping portal from Wednesday 14 October via the Tesco Clubcard app or when logged in to the Tesco website. There, you'll have access to all of the eligible retailers, plus information on how many points you'll be eligible to earn from every pound you spend.
In some cases you'll be able to earn Clubcard points at multiplied rates of up to 6x the value at some retailers.
Click through to the retailer you're after, and you'll be taken to the its external website. There, you can shop as normal.
None of the newly added brands allow you to collect points in person, but you can with some of Clubcard's existing partners (for example, Esso and Vauxhall).
How Tesco's Clubcard expansion compares to elsewhere
To compare the value of Tesco Clubcard's new rewards portal, we've calculated how much you'd earn if you spent £100 at 20 retailers picked at random from the site. We've then compared this to earnings with Nectar – Sainsbury's loyalty scheme – and at two popular cashback sites: Quidco and TopCashback.
Here's what we learned:
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You'll typically get the most for your money if you redeem earnings on restaurant vouchers via Clubcard. Here, the ability to triple Clubcard points to spend at various restaurants largely beats other all of the other earning options.
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Don't want restaurant vouchers? The best shopping scheme for you varies. It's going to depend on where you want to spend your earnings, and whether you want points, gift cards or cold hard cash.
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If you only want to spend earnings in store or online at Tesco, you're better off NOT using its scheme. We found you can typically earn more via cashback sites.
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But Tesco's new programme consistently beat Nectar earnings.
Our full comparison of the new Tesco Clubcard portal
Retailer | Clubcard | Nectar | Quidco | TopCashback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Adidas | - £4 | - £3 | - £7.50 | - £9 |
Asos (4) | - £6 or £1 | - £3 or 50p | - £4.50 or 75p | - £6 or £1 |
Avis | - £4 | - £4 | - £9 or £7.50 (5) | - £13 |
BT Broadband | - £12.50 | - £12.50 | - £37.50-£127.50 (6) | - £50-£180 (6) |
Decathlon | - £1 | - £0.50 | - £0.75 | - £1 |
Dyson | - £2 | - £1.50 | - 75p | - £3 |
Etsy (4) | - £3 or £1 | - £2 or £1 | - £3.75 | - £4 or £2 |
Glasses Direct (4) | - £3 or £2 | - £2.50 or £2 | - £15 | - £22 |
Halfords | - £1 | - 50p | - 75p | - £1 |
Holland and Barrett | - £3 | - £3 | - £5.25 | - £8 |
H&M (4) | - £4 or £2 | - £4 or £2 | - 75p | - £1 |
Lego | - £2 | - £2.50 | - £5 | - £5 |
Lookfantastic (4) | - £6 or £2 | - £5 or £2 | - £14 or £0 | - £14 or £4 |
National Express | - £3 | - £2 | - 75p | - £3 |
New Balance | - £3 | - £2.50 | - £6 | - £12 |
Oliver Bonas | - £3 | - £2.50 | - £2.25 | - £3 |
Puma | - £2 | - £2 | - £4.5 in-app or £3 online | - £6 in-app |
Sky Stream, Essential TV, Netflix & Broadband bundle | - £19.25 | - £50 | - £63.75 | - £75 |
Ticketmaster | - £1 | - 50p | - 75p | - £1 |
Virgin Media | - £35 | - £35 | - £56.25-£82.50 (6) | - £45-£105 (6) |
Rates and rewards offers, including limited-time deals, accurate as of Monday 12 October.
(1) Face value if spent at Tesco or Sainsbury's.
(2) Double value if spent at selected retail partners (Clubcard) or on certain days out (Nectar).
(3) Triple value if spent at selected restaurants.
(4) Depends on whether you're a new (larger amount) or existing (smaller amount) customer.
(5) Depends on booking location.
(6) Depends on the package.
Check the retailer's terms before buying
Some have different deals depending on whether:
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You're a new or existing customer.
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The items you're buying are on sale or full price.
Plus, deals can change over time with different rates and rewards available.
Some retailers also have differing rules about payment methods – so if you'd like to pay with a gift card, for example, pay extra attention to the relevant terms.
Points can take up to three months to track
Tesco says your purchase should be tracked and marked as "pending" within 48 hours, but the points may not be available in your account for 45 to 90 days depending on the purchase – and it can be even longer for travel contracts. This is similar for cashback websites.
If you've completed a purchase and think your points are missing after that period, you can get in touch with Tesco via its 'Customer Engagement Centre' on the app or go online for help.
Cancel or return your order? Any points earned will be wiped.
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