Boots cuts Advantage Card points to offer new deals
2026 Retail and Loyalty Summary
- Devaluation Trend: The 2023 changes at Boots and Tesco marked a broader shift where retailers reduced the "generosity" of points to manage rising operational costs.
- Pricing Strategy: The 2025 Asda "Mega Rollback" on 10,000 items set a new benchmark for supermarket competition, forcing other "Big Four" retailers to deepen their own discounts.
- Loyalty Evolution: Most major UK loyalty schemes have now moved toward "Member Pricing" (offering immediate lower prices in-store) rather than solely relying on long-term point accumulation.
In May 2023, the pharmacy and beauty retailer slashed its rewards from four points per pound spent to three. Since each point collected equals one penny to spend in-store, this change meant shoppers began making 25 percent less on their purchases from that date forward.
However Boots will begin offering a 10 percent discount on 6,000 of its own brand products for Advantage Card holders in a different way to reward their loyalty.
Boots says more than 70 percent of Advantage Card holders regularly buy from its own ranges and that one in five products in their baskets is an own-brand item.
Boots said the change is a chance to give shoppers "even more opportunities to save" and suggested it fit with how customers were now spending in the cost of living crisis.
Boots’ chief marketing officer, Pete Markey said: “Customers want to be rewarded with on-the-spot lower prices and instant value. We’ve also noticed that Advantage Card members are now more frequently using their points to buy essentials instead of saving them up.
“We’ve listened and expanded the scheme to give more instant reward, immediate value and lower prices.”
Points already collected will retain their value, so if you have £3.50 saved up on your card, you will still be able to use that £3.50 after May 23.
Students will also retain their 10% discount.
Other stores have also adjusted their loyalty schemes in recent years. In June 2023, Tesco implemented a major Clubcard devaluation, reducing the value of points when used with reward partners (such as restaurants or theme parks) from three times their in-store value down to just twice their value. Additionally, Marks and Spencer previously trialled its Sparks Plus subscription, while Sainsbury's Bank reduced its rewards from two points for every £1 spent to just one point for every £2 spent.
NimbleFins continues to track the intense supermarket price wars as food costs finally began to drop after years of record inflation.
By early 2025, the competition reached new heights; in April 2025, Asda rolled back prices on 10,000 items in its most significant cost-cutting campaign in 25 years. This followed massive historical investments from Morrisons, Waitrose, and Sainsbury's, who collectively spent hundreds of millions to retain customers during the height of the cost-of-living crisis.
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