Sainsburys Nectar Card Prices

gwynfil

Hi

I am probably not savvy for sticking with a Supermarket brand due to our family always having shopped there in the past and finding it fine in terms of quality and prices. 

I do most of my food shopping at Sainsburys. I have had a Nectar card for a long time. The idea of getting points or discounts for having a Nectar card, was therefore a bonus. However, I feel totally cheated with regards to the new system Sainsburys are using since they took over Nectar.

I am shocked when my shopping total is made and then the price with the Nectar saving. There is no way I could afford the prices before a Nectar Saving. 

However, there is a product I know the price of only too well and that is Lurpak Spreadable 750g. No doubt for many reasons it has gone up in price. 

However, today on a price comparison app it shows the cost of this product:

Ocado- £5.50
Iceland £5.50
Asda £6.50
Tesco - £6.75
Sainsburys £7.00

With a Nectar card it is £5.00 in Sainsburys. However, other customers will be paying these inflated prices. 

Anyone else find this a bit of a scam?

I will no longer be shopping at Sainsburys. I don't want foreign students, tourists, the elderly without a Nectar Card, being charged these ridiculous prices. Also, what happens if my nectar card gets damaged or lost for a week? I was wondering why I hadn't seen many of the local, regular customers I see in my local Sainsburys this week and my sister suggested we go somewhere else as she noticed the prices were obscene.

I also get the lottery here and cigs for a neighbour, but can go elsewhere. 

I would like Sainsburys to explain themselves.

This is not a nectar saving. It is a massive price increase with the near normal price being charged to people that are using Sainsburys newly acquired Nectar business.

Goodbye Sainsburys. 

born_again

Tesco do exactly the same.

Retailers are free to offer discount to users of their cards. Just the same as you get extra points on products.

This is not a nectar saving. It is a massive price increase with the near normal price being charged to people that are using Sainsburys newly acquired Nectar business.

£2 cheaper for using a nectar card seems like a saving to me? If they all charged the same price, they would be accused of price fixing.

Sainsburys have offered Nectar card/points for years in different formats. Similar to Tesco Clubcard, Sainsbury's Nectar Card, introduced in 2002, 

Save me a lot on each shop, so long may it continue. 

gwynfil

Well, the other supermarkets all seem to have a fairish starting price, so Sainsburys seem out of kilter with fair costings in this instance. As a regular shopper at Sainsburys, my husband laughs how I all know all the prices. These recent big jump in prices, which are all easily found in a 24/7 data available internet, seem rather suspect to me. But then Sainsburys owning Nectar means this now all feels like a sort of scam. They have inflated the prices to make the discounts seem better, whilst over charging those without Nectar Cards massively. This is a fact. Goodbye Sainsburys. Everyone will wake up to this soon. It may not be the next PPI scandal, but it will backfire.

Murphybear

We live in a small market town with 2 supermarkets, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s.  There is a big Tesco in the next town, it’s about 16 miles return and the route to get there is the A30 which gets very busy especially in the holiday season.   We tend to shop in Waitrose and set ourselves a budget.  If the prices go up we buy less food  . 

Emmia

Getting a nectar card is free, and they can be picked up in store, so the elderly, foreign students, whoever... can get one and enjoy the "reduced" prices.

I have mine on a phone app, as a keyring fob and a card - so almost no chance of not having it on me.

I'm not clear why (as you have a nectar card) you're not carrying on shopping there as you get those lower prices??? Seems a bit cutting off your nose to spite your face.

If other people choose not to have a nectar card, and pay more, what does it matter to you? Tesco's have a similar approach with their clubcard, and Sainsbury's are just responding to their competitor. (I've seen the price "inflation" of certain things in Tesco like the meal deals, for non clubcard holders reported in the media)

Sainsbury's bought Nectar in 2018 - so their ownership isn't new either.

dealyboy

@Murphybear said:

We live in a small market town with 2 supermarkets, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s.  There is a big Tesco in the next town, it’s about 16 miles return and the route to get there is the A30 which gets very busy especially in the holiday season.   We tend to shop in Waitrose and set ourselves a budget.  If the prices go up we buy less food  . 

I'm in a similar position to you plus a medium sized Asda and B&M.

Our Waitrose does tend to have higher prices as you might expect but there are some good prices in their 'Essentials' range, however I have found that Sainsbury's are similarly priced if I ignore their loyalty schemes.

One area where Waitrose are competitively priced is in the wine, beer and spirits department. You can pick up a good single malt at a similar price to Sainsbury's even with their Nectar Prices, you can also find 'reductions', yes I do mean yellow labels on spirits going out of range.

I was in Sainsbury's whisky section yesterday and was near a chap who perhaps was slightly older than me (I'm an OAP), he was clearly new to the aisle so I recommended a malt to him. He said that the prices were so high these days, I pointed out the Nectar Price tickets showing discounts of perhaps £15 on a £40 bottle, but he didn't have a Nectar card.

Before he left I recommended getting a Nectar card but he said 'oh no that's all too complicated'. 

gwynfil

What Sainsburys fail to realise is that the headline price before Nectar is acting as a deterrent to Shoppers with and without Nectar cards. It would be much better if they charged what they needed to make a profit and then simply carried on with the Nectar Points System as usual, or additional offers to loyal or profitable customers. That way people are rewarded honestly and fairly and not treated like fools. I can easily pick up 500gram Lurpak more cheaply in another supermarket. The fact that the other main supermarkets were all charging similar prices, suggests that is the RRP, or one they can make a profit on. Sainsburys were merely inflating the price to make Nectar look good  when it wasn't a bargain. Well, sorry, I am not that much of an idiot. If I take a person that shops at other supermarkets in to Sainsburys with me, I don't want them charged more than me. If I meet up with friends for lunch and we grab a few groceries afterwards, I don't want them charged more. Also, Nectar should be rewarding its loyal members, not penalising other shoppers and making fools of loyal ones.

Come on Sainsburys. You are better than this. This is not the Sainsburys style or morality. 

I spent £45 pounds in Waitrose today instead of Sainsburys. Not cheaper, but the store is roomy and calm and a great shopping experience. On Monday I am going to M and S who have very cheap fruit and veg and excellent quality meat and fish. Then I will top up by visiting Lidl for the first time next week with my sister who has recently swapped from Sainsburys. Sainsburys was literally the only place for my family since I was born. Sad to go, but it is has lost its ethos. Staff are amazing dealing with Argos orders, Uber eats/Just eat, customer service returns and personally helping with the access issues the poorly designed stores create, whilst fetching trolleys and seeing to shop lifters, since security guards have been replaced by no exit barriers which is terrible for people in mobility vehicles. I dread to think how my local store would deal with a fire. I can't fault the staff for trying to maintain standards in an environment that seems to only award the very top that shrink the customer experience for their bonuses.  Watch this space. Sainsburys is now shabby and over priced in my opinion. 

Note to the CEO: Read social media reviews of the problems. 

gwynfil

Nectar is only available to UK residents, so foreign students can not get them. My town has many language schools and they will only be charged the high prices.

GlasgowExpat2

gwynfil said:

Nectar is only available to UK residents, so foreign students can not get them. My town has many language schools and they will only be charged the high prices.

The terms are “resident UK, Channel Island or Isle of Man address” not UK residents. If an international student has a UK address they can apply. 

dealyboy

@gwynfil said:

What Sainsburys fail to realise is that the headline price before Nectar is acting as a deterrent to Shoppers with and without Nectar cards. It would be much better if they charged what they needed to make a profit and then simply carried on with the Nectar Points System as usual, or additional offers to loyal or profitable customers. That way people are rewarded honestly and fairly and not treated like fools. I can easily pick up 500gram Lurpak more cheaply in another supermarket. The fact that the other main supermarkets were all charging similar prices, suggests that is the RRP, or one they can make a profit on. Sainsburys were merely inflating the price to make Nectar look good  when it wasn't a bargain. Well, sorry, I am not that much of an idiot. If I take a person that shops at other supermarkets in to Sainsburys with me, I don't want them charged more than me. If I meet up with friends for lunch and we grab a few groceries afterwards, I don't want them charged more. Also, Nectar should be rewarding its loyal members, not penalising other shoppers and making fools of loyal ones.

Come on Sainsburys. You are better than this. This is not the Sainsburys style or morality. 

I spent £45 pounds in Waitrose today instead of Sainsburys. Not cheaper, but the store is roomy and calm and a great shopping experience. On Monday I am going to M and S who have very cheap fruit and veg and excellent quality meat and fish. Then I will top up by visiting Lidl for the first time next week with my sister who has recently swapped from Sainsburys. Sainsburys was literally the only place for my family since I was born. Sad to go, but it is has lost its ethos. Staff are amazing dealing with Argos orders, Uber eats/Just eat, customer service returns and personally helping with the access issues the poorly designed stores create, whilst fetching trolleys and seeing to shop lifters, since security guards have been replaced by no exit barriers which is terrible for people in mobility vehicles. I dread to think how my local store would deal with a fire. I can't fault the staff for trying to maintain standards in an environment that seems to only award the very top that shrink the customer experience for their bonuses.  Watch this space. Sainsburys is now shabby and over priced in my opinion. 

Note to the CEO: Read social media reviews of the problems. 

While I'm at it I'll lump in a few gripes ...
- my town's store removes discount and Nectar Price tickets early on Tuesday mornings (before 10:00am) and puts out the higher price tickets, these prices don't start until Wednesday. This is apparently due to the fact that they don't have an overnight shift and are short staffed, however they do have staff in store until about 10:30pm (store closes at 8:00pm).
- the website only shows next day (delivery) prices/discounts so on Tuesdays I 'smartshop' items on my shopping list and remove them if there is no discount, these then show on my receipt at checkout. Of course I'm not aware of products with discounted prices not on my shopping list. Tuesday is my main shopping day and is when I receive my 'Sainsbury's Offers'.
- phone Customer Service to raise a complaint and they don't take contact details or issue a case reference number. I even had one CSA tell me that I had been talking for about 5 minutes and time was short when I was describing the pricing problem at my local store. When I said the complaint was the previous CSA hadn't taken my contact details she finished the call.
- Aisles are quite narrow and often filled with stock 'cage trolleys'.
- Products of the same type in the deli/fresh produce section can be found in several different bays and areas e.g. cheese is in 5 different areas, and I 'found' my standard olive spread having checked the main area and end of aisle bay.
- Prices 'jump'. About 4 weeks ago you would find several own brand pates at 90p/£1 then they jumped to £1.60, this is particularly true of the deli and fresh section where own brand dips, spreads, pates etc. are often £2 or £3 where previously they would be 50p to £1.
- My local mid-sized store does not supply hand-held scanners for a smartshop and last time I shopped both the Wi-Fi and smartshop services were down.
- I don't know whether this is common practice among retailers but the 'tagging gate' alarms frequently go off when people, often with trolley fulls, go through. Most don't stop and staff don't bother even when I point it out. This applies to both my local and next town Sainsbury's.

On the plus side I find the colleagues friendly and helpful.

I agree with your comments re. Waitrose and am particularly impressed with their new big 'self-scan' till area where they have taken great trouble to make them 'mobility friendly'.

jon81uk

gwynfil said:

Hi

I am probably not savvy for sticking with a Supermarket brand due to our family always having shopped there in the past and finding it fine in terms of quality and prices. 

I do most of my food shopping at Sainsburys. I have had a Nectar card for a long time. The idea of getting points or discounts for having a Nectar card, was therefore a bonus. However, I feel totally cheated with regards to the new system Sainsburys are using since they took over Nectar.

I am shocked when my shopping total is made and then the price with the Nectar saving. There is no way I could afford the prices before a Nectar Saving. 

However, there is a product I know the price of only too well and that is Lurpak Spreadable 750g. No doubt for many reasons it has gone up in price. 

However, today on a price comparison app it shows the cost of this product:

Ocado- £5.50
Iceland £5.50
Asda £6.50
Tesco - £6.75
Sainsburys £7.00

With a Nectar card it is £5.00 in Sainsburys. However, other customers will be paying these inflated prices. 

Anyone else find this a bit of a scam?

I will no longer be shopping at Sainsburys. I don't want foreign students, tourists, the elderly without a Nectar Card, being charged these ridiculous prices. Also, what happens if my nectar card gets damaged or lost for a week? I was wondering why I hadn't seen many of the local, regular customers I see in my local Sainsburys this week and my sister suggested we go somewhere else as she noticed the prices were obscene.

I also get the lottery here and cigs for a neighbour, but can go elsewhere. 

I would like Sainsburys to explain themselves.

This is not a nectar saving. It is a massive price increase with the near normal price being charged to people that are using Sainsburys newly acquired Nectar business.

Goodbye Sainsburys. 

Full price of the Lurpak 750g is £7 at Ocado too, its on special offer at £5.50
Lurpak Slightly Salted Spreadable Blend of Butter and Rapeseed Oil | Ocado

The only difference is that Tesco and Sainsbury's now require you to have a Clubcard/Nectar card to get the special offer prices, Ocado does not.