Boots cuts Advantage Card points to offer new deals

The pharmacy and beauty retailer will slash its rewards from four points per pound spent to three from May 23.

Each point collected equals another penny to spend in store meaning shoppers will now be making 25 percent less on their purchases.

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 are also changing their loyalty schemes.

Marks and Spencer is trialling a Sparks Plus card - a subscription version of its free Sparks card. It will cost £120 a year with benefits including a monthly £10 voucher, one free hot drink a month and unlimited next day delivery.

Tesco launched Clubcard Plus in 2019 which costs £7.99 a month and offers 10 percent off two "big shops" per month. The Clubcard also offers discounts on scores of products in store.

Sainsbury's Bank has cut its rewards from two points for every £1 spent, to one point for every £2 spent.

NimbleFins previously reported a number of supermarkets had slashed their prices to try and keep customers from leaving for cheaper retailers.

Morrisons has invested £148 million to cut prices over the last six months. Waitrose last month launched a new price cut with £100m invested to cut the price of hundreds of own-brand lines.

Sainsbury's has also invested another £50m in price cuts taking its total investment to £550m over two years.

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