The Queen Bee (Nectar Card)

Member Name: abbadabbado

Product:	Nectar Card
Date:	07/09/08 (333 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: free stuff

Disadvantages: not as good as Tesco rewards

A Nectar card is a loyalty card attached to Sainsbury primarily. A lot of large stores offer a loyalty card in one way, shape or form. You probably won't have them all, and will have preferences as to which you want to use. I've always preferred Sainsburys as a supermarket over some of the other big stores, and that is why I have stuck to the Nectar card for a long time now.

What does a Nectar card offer?
Nectar offers 2 points for every £1 spent. This may not work out as much as other loyalty cards, however as you will primarily gather these points when you are doing the weekly or monthly food shopping, it's a gathering for buying essentials, rather than gaining points for luxuries in places such as Boots for their advantage points.

Where can I get points from?

There are many places which advertise the Nectar logo, both online and offline. The main one being Sainsburys. A few examples of other stores are Donald and Aitcheson, Early Learning Centre, Argos, Avon, Borders, Body Shop and many many more. Many of the shops are for when you shop online only, so you would have to compare against your usual cash back site to see if it was worth shopping through Nectar or sticking with your cash back site.

Where can I spend my points?

There are more ways that I first realised available to spend your Nectar points. They can be spent back in store at Sainsburys, in Argos, and there is also an online gift catalogue on the Nectar website which has items you can swap your points for.
2000 points = £10. Argos and Sainsburys will let you redeem points in denominations of 500 points (£2.50).

How do I apply?

A card can be gained by popping into your local Sainsburys store, or by going online to nectar.com. It's a short form and you will receive your card in the post a week or so later. You can also choose to have a key fob version for your keys, but I have found these not to be great quality and the barcode wears off too quickly. We just stick with our card for this reason.

Is the Nectar card worth having?

Personally I prefer to have a Nectar card over a Tesco Club card. My reasoning for this is because I get more out of saving my points up and using them in Argos at Christmas time towards presents, than I would out of getting deals through Tesco. I also prefer shopping at Sainsburys to Tesco as well.

Other information

You can register your Nectar card online and see your updated points balance at any time by logging in. There is also the chance to gain extra points by filling in surveys and keeping an eye on the website for what they have available.
When you shop in your home store (the store nearest your postcode), the till print out will provide you with your updated points balance.
Sainsburys have also just recently followed Tesco policy of offering you extra nectar points for using reusable bags when shopping in store.
Nectar points are also redeemable against petrol which helps top up your balance.

Summary: A great loyalty card