Lidl App

anon51

Is anyone else confused with the Lidl App?  I have been shopping in Lidl for years but chose not to sign up for the app as I am fed up with supermarkets trying to extract personal data from their customers.
Today Lidl had their usual fruit and veg offers on display and I picked up some reduced blueberries.  Further into the store I selected some GF bread on offer and then chose beef mince and 2 packets of chicken breast fillets which were also reduced.  All the reduced price signs appeared the same to me but when I checked my receipt later I realised that the GF bread was the only offer available to those who do not have the app.  I might add that at the checkout - I was not asked if I had the app nor did anyone point out to me that I could not avail of the offers on the food I had selected.   I realise that I have some responsibility as a consumer and I have chosen to not have the Lidl App, however the pricing displays are confusing and in my case today, led me to make purchases that I would not have been doing if I knew the items were not available to me at a reduced rate.
My husband has the Lidl app but he also complains that the offers are only available at the checkout if you have selected them on the app prior to shopping.  Again this is not made clear in the store. 
I personally think all of the store "deals" that require and app or store card should be ceased.  I am concerned for shoppers who have a disability or learning difficulty affecting their processing of information.  I think the current store cars/app schemes are discriminatory.  I am confused and I am a teacher who is meant to know how to read the fine details!  

General_Grant

I do not have the Lidl app - I don't have a smartphone.

I look carefully at the price information and if I see there is a reduction for those who do have the app, I simply do not buiy the item.  If they could sell it at the lower price to those with the app, they could sell it at that price full stop.

With Sainsbury's Nectar card prices instore you simply need to register the card with whatever true personal data you wish to provide.  There isn't the fussing around pre-selecting offers.  (I am aware that further personalised offers are also available depending on earlier purchases but the publicly advertised Nectar prices are available whenever the card is used.)

Rosa_Damascena

The Lidl Plus app isn't brilliant, but like all these supermarket loyalty schemes you need to work out how use them to your advantage.

molerat

anon51 said:

Is anyone else confused with the Lidl App?  I have been shopping in Lidl for years but chose not to sign up for the app as I am fed up with supermarkets trying to extract personal data from their customers.
Today Lidl had their usual fruit and veg offers on display and I picked up some reduced blueberries.  Further into the store I selected some GF bread on offer and then chose beef mince and 2 packets of chicken breast fillets which were also reduced.  All the reduced price signs appeared the same to me but when I checked my receipt later I realised that the GF bread was the only offer available to those who do not have the app.  I might add that at the checkout - I was not asked if I had the app nor did anyone point out to me that I could not avail of the offers on the food I had selected.   I realise that I have some responsibility as a consumer and I have chosen to not have the Lidl App, however the pricing displays are confusing and in my case today, led me to make purchases that I would not have been doing if I knew the items were not available to me at a reduced rate.
My husband has the Lidl app but he also complains that the offers are only available at the checkout if you have selected them on the app prior to shopping.  Again this is not made clear in the store. 
I personally think all of the store "deals" that require and app or store card should be ceased.  I am concerned for shoppers who have a disability or learning difficulty affecting their processing of information.  I think the current store cars/app schemes are discriminatory.  I am confused and I am a teacher who is meant to know how to read the fine details!  

The vast majority of items sell at the marked price to all, app prices are usually additional to the marked price and clearly stated on any POS.  If the items were reduced, as in orange sticker, it is likely the original bar code was scanned rather than the reduced code.  I have never had any problems with the offers and the instructions are pretty clear what you need to do to access them in the app.

datz

anon51 said:

I have been shopping in Lidl for years but chose not to sign up for the app as I am fed up with supermarkets trying to extract personal data from their customers.

Loyalty schemes have always been optional. Only you can decide whether the incentive is enough to offset the value of the data you share with them. For those schemes (or services in general) that I do decide to sign up to, I always provide the least amount of genuine information that I can get away with (just make a note of what you do provide, in case you're asked in the future).

Fyi, the only genuine information the Lidl app requires from you is email address and phone number - the rest can either be completed with random info, and/or left blank. In my case, I use a unique email address (forwarded to my main email), and a secondary (traditional payg) phone number for 2fa (that I use for services I don't really care about, don't trust, or just don't want having my main number).

Cornucopia

The Lidl App seems to have been pretty successful, judging by the amount of effort Lidl puts into it.    The discounts are a useful bonus, and the occasional free item is genuinely better than competing loyalty apps.

It does mean though that it's necessary to keep more of an eye on whether offers "work", and also I tend to find that offer applicability is not as clear as it could be - requiring product number matching because product names differ between the App, the shelf label and the product.  

In all cases, though, I've always found Lidl staff to be helpful in sorting things out, IF your interpretation of the rules was correct.   

Rosa_Damascena

One thing I will say about the app is that it is not obvious when you are entitled to a "spin". This thread encouraged me to open it and lo and behold there was one sitting there waiting to expire in 3 days time. I "won" 20% off Crownfield cereals so will probably buy the biggest box of generic Weetabix I can find on the shelf. (Asda not price matching here).

2childmum2

You get a spin each time you make a purchase - it's the same as the scratch card. I find the time between me buying something and when the scratch card/spinner appears can vary, but if I go into my purchase summary (which appears fairly quickly) it usually appears there

where_are_we

Anon51 - I agree that Apps and supermarket cards are discriminatory. Some will not want to or be able to take advantage and you have to be savvy in their use. I always have a shopping list and go through the Lidl App for "coupons" beforehand, noting down the product number and "activating" the coupon. The App is not particularly customer friendly - why would a customer "not" want a free bakery item for instance (I recommend the low gi multiseed cob) but you still have to "activate" it. I do not like the 7 day window for the "coupons" which means you must shop at least once a week. However some of the offers appear to be individually tailored which is satisfactory. I organise my monthly shop to attain the £250 10% coupon target on my last shop of that month so that my first shop of the next month is a giant one (well over £100) to take advantage of 10% off and then I am well on the way to attaining the next months total of £250. When doing a giant shop beware of Lidl car parks 90 minute limit.

jon81uk

where_are_we said:

Anon51 - I agree that Apps and supermarket cards are discriminatory. Some will not want to or be able to take advantage and you have to be savvy in their use. I always have a shopping list and go through the Lidl App for "coupons" beforehand, noting down the product number and "activating" the coupon. 

I don't think its particularly more discriminatory then any other coupon, in the old days you might have got coupons through the door in the post or in a newspaper, you still had to go to the effort of cutting them out and collecting them (effectively activating them). Many people didn't get the newspaper or didn't receive the particular leaflet with the coupons. 

At least Lidl it is extra discount coupons unlike Tesco & Sainsbury's who have just made all special offers for card holders only.

mr._prude

I had it for a while but found that some of the discounts and freebies never materialised. If the freebie happened to be in stock they were still charging you for it.