By not using clubcard, you're leaving money on the table even before the "clubcard prices" were introduced. The whole scheme is basically a cashback mechanism on your purchases.

Like another poster said, if you're worried about privacy/data collection/spam, just sign up with false details. Now days, everything is done through the app so you can get all the benefits without using a real identity.

If you do this you also need to be sure to pay with cash, or other anonymous cards, because they’ll also link your payment details if I recall correctly (perhaps not this brand, but most others will).

Yes, retailers can and do link/track purchases against card numbers. But this is true regardless of whether you're a member of a loyalty scheme or not.

Also, if you use Apple Pay / Android Pay, a device account number (DAN) is generated that is different from your physical card number. I'm not sure whether retailers get a name from such a transaction, but I suspect they just get the card number?

Nope, it can be linked back using https://developer.visa.com/capabilities/visa-par-inquiry

It’s even more annoying than that, the various Card companies sell your data too! It’s a hot mess.

For a 1% return? Hardly worth it.

As for the app, I don't want my phone polluted with even more crap. If I had a corporate loyalty app for every shop I wanted to go in, I'd have a hundred apps, a hundred data collection problems and a flat battery. Instead I have one called Apple Pay which works everywhere..

I'd argue 1% isn't so bad in itself, but it works out to far more than that using the various bonuses and vouchers etc.

Personally I find the Sainsbury's scheme (Nectar) better overall, however. All the "vouchers" that multiply your points are applied automatically through the app, rather than having to goof around with scanning barcodes as in the Tesco app.

I haven't worked out my exact spend at Sainsbury's this year, but it was probably less than £1000. From that I had enough nectar points to buy £100 worth of wines in a recent promotion, and I still have plenty left over... (points, that is. Most of the wine is gone, haha)

For what it's worth, you can install the Clubcard app, add your Clubcard to Apple Pay from within the app, then uninstall it and the card will stay in Apple Pay.

I'm normally very careful about my privacy, but I have to say this is one case where I really couldn't care less that they're collecting this data. At least I'm getting rewarded monetarily for it.

I'm not familiar with U.K. retailers, but these are common at grocers in the U.S. The collected data makes stock purchasing more efficient. Is there any evidence that personal data is monetized in any other way?

> The collected data makes stock purchasing more efficient.

Why does the data need to be personally identifiable for this? Is there a reason a store can't look at total sales volume for a particular product & figure out how many more units to order?

Reasoning for storing any data outside of a GUID is so you can recover your account or key it in manually in lieu of swiping the card. Phone numbers are associated with the card here. You can punch in your number to the payment pad and leave your membership cards at home/throw them away.

Total sales volume doesn't get the same accuracy of individual shopper habits. I'm not in this sector so somebody else can correct me. Knowing what products each customer tends to buy during cold/flu season or a holiday or some opaque reason allows them to predict demand rather than react to overall trends and current stock amounts. If their data model knows that a small group of heavy purchasers of an item haven't purchased the item recently and are expected to visit the store soon, that demand can be anticipated. If a customer moves, then purchasing habits can be automatically planned for at the new store they begin shopping at rather than waiting for their sometimes infrequent purchasing habits to affect sales at the new and old locations.

A false dichotomy. It's not about today but what they can do with the data in 5+ years from now (and yes, it'll be stored for that long).

We can't know how data will be manipulated as future technology is developed.

Yup, made me get one as the prices were That much lower for my usual items.

I decided fuck 'em and went to Asda instead.

I only really live around a Tesco & Sainsbury's, so I was under the impression that generally the 'non-clubcard' prices were more or less in-line with competing supermarkets for most items? Is this wrong? My only other frame of reference really is Sainsbury's which I've known to overprice things anyway.

That's the impression they want to give you. The non-clubcard prices are significantly higher than Waitrose, Asda and Sainsburys.

I've just stopped buying anything that displays a Clubcard price. It's pesky but doable for now. That may change, of course; I don't see them getting much pushback on this so I expect them to keep doubling down.

A non-Tesco supermarket is going to be a priority next time I move.

Wish I had one... Waitrose is my other option, so yeh.......

Waitrose is considerably cheaper than Tesco without a clubcard.

No way, Waitrose is incredibly expensive everywhere I lived compared to Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Asda. Up there with M&S. But I guess it also depends on your typical basket...

Stick to the Essential lines and it's fine. The quality is also better than the generic fake brand crap that Tesco sell and it's the same price or better. Waitrose essential baked beans for example are waaaay better than any others.

Very annoying, but if you want to play the game you can use the app on your phone to sign up and give completely false details (name, address etc). Nothing is posted to you so the false address isn't an issue. And you have the satisfaction of polluting their database with garbage.

Or you could just shop somewhere else, but that is a worse option in my case.

But then they have your phone number and can probably extrapolate your address from that

The cynic in me feels like they wouldn’t care. The deal they have with your phone provider allows them to identify you by the phone you signed up with. The deal they have with Amazon facial recognition let’s them identify you with the cameras you walked past every time you go in the store. The deal they have with the state let’s let track where your license plate was seen this month. And of course they have what they want which is the card in your pocket giving them all of your purchases in one easy column.

/s.....hopefully

Actually that's exactly what they and Dunnhumby do.

I certainly wouldn't install an app to go shopping at a specific store to obtain specific advantages.

No company deserves loyalty through a scheme like this. Only through decent customer service and reasonable pricing.

As for shopping elsewhere, yes. I use Asda now which does not require a loyalty card to get the discount prices and is generally cheaper and better stocked despite being smaller here.