Attitudes towards supermarket loyalty pricing

About the study

In recent times, there has been a growing trend in the use of loyalty pricing by supermarkets, offering exclusive discounts to customers who sign up to loyalty schemes and use store-specific loyalty cards. However, this practice has raised growing concerns among stakeholders and consumers about fairness and the potential creation of a two-tier pricing system.

In July 2024, we conducted a survey on behalf of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) using our probability-based NatCen Opinion Panel. The survey aimed to explore grocery shoppers' perceptions of loyalty pricing and its effect on their shopping behaviours. This study contributes to a broader investigation by the CMA into loyalty pricing in the grocery sector.

Findings

• There is widespread participation in supermarket loyalty schemes, with 97% of regular grocery shoppers a member of at least one loyalty scheme.
• On average, regular grocery shoppers have three memberships but 1 in 5 (21%) are members of five or more supermarket loyalty schemes.
• Tesco Clubcard is the loyalty scheme with the most members, with 77% of regular grocery shoppers signed up. This is followed next by Sainsbury’s Nectar Card, with 57%.
• 27% of regular grocery shoppers say they have joined a supermarket loyalty scheme within the last 12 months.
• Among those who signed up to a scheme in the past year, accessing loyalty prices was the primary motivation for 27% in their decision to join.
• The majority of grocery shoppers (69%) think that loyalty pricing offers good savings for members. However, a sizeable minority (40%) of shoppers do not trust that the loyalty price is a genuine saving on the usual price for that product. 
• A significant proportion of grocery shoppers (43%) consider it’s unfair that lower prices are only available to loyalty scheme members.
• Over half (55%) of grocery shoppers think that non-member prices during a loyalty price promotion are generally higher than the price usually charged for the product. This view is most common among younger shoppers, with 71% of those aged 18-29 thinking that the price for non-members is inflated.
• The majority (76%) of grocery shoppers reported that loyalty pricing is not changing where they grocery shop. Most (69%) grocery shoppers also said that loyalty pricing has not affected the extent to which they compare prices across supermarkets.
• Nearly three quarters (72%) of regular grocery shoppers stated being aware that supermarkets collect personal data each time they shop: with 49% knowing this is the case but not having looked at the details of the process, and another 23% stating that they had read the available information about how their data would be used.
• Regular grocery shoppers stated being broadly comfortable, or ambivalent, towards supermarkets using their data, for things like understanding shopping habits and sending personalised offers. However, they were more likely to be uncomfortable with their data being shared with other companies.

Methodology

Fieldwork period, sample, mode

Fieldwork for this study was conducted using the NatCen Opinion Panel – a random-probability panel of people recruited from high-quality, random probability studies such as the British Social Attitudes survey. The data was collected between 5th July and 4th August 2024 using a sequential mixed mode design (web and telephone).

Survey flow

The survey began by asking respondents whether they were responsible for at least some of the grocery shopping done in their household. Those who answered "yes" were asked if they shop regularly at a list of major UK supermarkets. Those who said they did were defined as regular grocery shoppers and then asked about their supermarket loyalty memberships, including which ones they held (if any) and how often they used them. Additional questions explored the shopping behaviors of loyalty scheme members in more detail. All grocery shoppers, regardless of loyalty card ownership and how regularly they shop, were then asked about their views and attitudes toward loyalty pricing.

Response and incidence rate

A total of 2,719 of the 4,700 panel members invited to take part did so, either online or over the phone, giving a 58% survey response rate.  Of the total respondents, 2,439 were grocery shoppers (90%).

Weighting

The data were weighted to be representative of the UK adult (18+) population.