ratechaser

Absolutely this, although my take on the 'game' is to max out the bonuses while it lasts... because I really don't think it will. The generosity of the points offers is already starting to nudge towards 10 pointers as standard for me, and I was a fairly regular Sainsbury shopper well before the Avios tie up came along - so whatever algorithm they use, it's not getting meaner in reaction to my shopping patterns. Remember how easy it was to earn buckets of extra clubcard points many years ago - that stopped and I think this will too.

In the meantime, I'll gladly make hay - I want the Avios as I'm a picky redeemer and get good value out of the scheme.

BlueThroughCrimp

The latest TV advertising for Nectar is making a big deal about App users earning three times the points than what non-app points collectors are. I guess there will be app bonus points for a while.

Confus

You’ve got me very curious about my stats... so I’ve gone and checked the records. Over my last 20 shops, I’m averaging a mean of 23 points per £ on shop spend. The median is 25 and there’s a much smaller standard deviation than I’d expected. I did hit a record 40 once, in mid Feb. On top of that I got a few hundred for my juicy bonus, and extra points because I use an Amex to pay (not counted in the above, for clarity).

I don’t think I have any ‘tricks’ as such. Sainsbury’s is my most convenient supermarket so I do most (but not all) of my regular shops there, and have done for the last few years. I don’t have expensive tastes and live on my own, so my total spend is fairly low. I hate waste so refuse to buy things I don’t want or need just because there’s a points offer, but will allow points to sway me if there’s a direct choice (e.g. my offers alternate between orange and apple juice and I like them both, so I’ll pick whichever is in the app that week).

Like many offers, it won’t work for everyone, but is working very well for me.

where2travel

Having most of the supermarkets within walking distance (except Asda and Morrisons) I take the same approach. That said I think Sainsbury's is the one supermarket that has gone significantly backwards over time (relative to the others), and I struggle to see how the "10 points when you buy loose onions" type offers is going to tempt me there. Fundamentally it suffers from lacking the value of the Lidl/Aldis and lacking the quality of the Waitrose/M&Ss, and the stores look the same as they did 20 or 30 years ago when Sainsbury's did very well as the middle class supermarket of choice before things changed.

peter h

Indeed - although I'd say if you look at commodities - like branded canned tomatoes, for instance - then M&S/Waitrose/Harrods are likely to be more expensive for exactly the same can. For own label stuff, then they they could also be from the same production line!

One area of particular interest to me is the price of wine (hic!). A few years ago, Sainsburys were competitive on price, but it has been less convenient to shop there for their offers recently - and their base prices have got less competitive.. I've had an email from Tesco this evening about a '25% off 6' offer for a couple of weeks - I'll certainly be looking at that.

bluemoon68

My new offers yesterday were much improved, 2 offered 120 points each on items I regularly buy.

chrism20

My offers dropped yesterday and this is the first week I've had the 10 & 20 points inflicted on me in anyway.

I got

60 points on free from cookies
10 points on part baked baguettes (2 weeks ago was the first time I bought these at Sainsbury's)
10 points on French dressing (Has always been 50 points alternating weekly between French and Honey & Mustard)
20 points on 4pt milk (Normally 40/50 points)
50 points on bistro salad
70 points on 12 pack of 500ml water
160 points on Lisboa red wine
20 points on 6 eggs (Normally 50/60)

Notably I have eight offers instead of the usual six and there are still some decent ones in there.

Looking back through my activity over the last few weeks a fortnight ago I shopped in a big store three times that week and did not visit the convenience store at all. Normally it's always a convenience store I go to.

Think I might give them a miss for a couple of weeks and see what happens as I've had vouchers through the post this week for Tesco, Morrisons and M&S plus Lidl have also dropped a £5 off £25 spend on the app.

Globaliser

Many are (or can be) "games" to a much lesser extent.

Take BAEC and Avios: For us (as I suspect for many other FTers too), it doesn't have to be actively played. In normal times, Avios just roll in faster than they can easily be spent, and status just comes as a natural corollary to the flying we would do anyway; if we drop a tier one year, we drop a tier - it isn't a huge deal. Only in marginal times would we pay closer attention to the earning rules.

Similarly, Tesco Clubcard doesn't have to be gamed either. For most of us, it's now a straightforward 1% cashback.

I can see how Sainsburys/Nectar can be gamed very profitably. But it requires active playing to a much greater extent.

xenole

My mother got her 18 new offers, and most are 10 or 20 points, with apples and some meat being 120-200.

Raffles

This is why I think it won't work well. The level of gamification that FTers are willing to indulge in is far different to what the general public will do. They will see the poor headline Nectar earning rate and decide not to bother.

There are around 5m Avios accounts in the UK. Allowing for duplication across families, households etc you are probably still at 3-4m. Head for Points has a core readership of around 50,000 and I imagine BA FT is just a fraction of that. It is the 99% of Avios account holders who don't engage with me or this place that need to be won over - the ones who you see using the free BA Amex when you go shopping :-)

fartoomanyusers

I've been playing the Nectar game for a few years - but it's noticeable how the offers have dropped in value in the last few weeks. The timing seems too coincidental with the arrival of the BAEC crowd.

Presumably Sainsburys/Nectar are quite happy for the FT/HfP crowd *not* to play the game, as they will extract too much value out of Sainsburys/Nectar.

However the great swathe of BAEC members who don't extract maximum value out of BA (by failing to read FT/HfP) are the cannon fodder that Sainsburys/Nectar presumably want to get their hands on.

Gamification is proven to work with the general public. Hard to see why the Sainsburys/Nectar game would be anything different.

Tim330

I have been using my wife's nectar card and like others have said the bonus points have been decreasing lately.
Is it worth opening my own nectar account and switching between them for each weekly shop to get better offers? Has anyone else tried this?

Confus

If you share an address (and name?), they will work it out even if your accounts aren’t linked. If you can use a new address then yes it could work (do you perhaps live at 23a but your wife at 23?)

Tim330

She hasn't taken my surname so that helps and I'll just put my parents address instead. They don't shop at Sainsbury’s AFAIK. Will report back if there is anything useful.

rapidex

Nectar and Sainsbury's dont care. We have 3 Nectar cards registered at this address and all three of us have different offers. When I do the shopping either at the till or self service, the staff are always willing to help so we get the best deal on each account.