Which? investigation reveals loyalty discounts aren't always as good as they appear

You can't fail to have spotted loyalty pricing, where members pay less than everyone else – for example, through Boots Advantage, Sainsbury's Nectar, Superdrug Health & Beautycard or Tesco Clubcard Prices. But Which? research has found that, sometimes, the deals are less impressive than you might assume.

We know shoppers can be suspicious of loyalty deals, where there's a lower price for members and a higher price for everyone else. 

That's why we've looked at the prices of almost 12,000 products on loyalty promotion in major supermarkets and health and beauty specialists in the biggest investigation of its kind.

We've dug deep into these products' pricing histories to uncover just how genuine the discounts really are – exposing some very questionable non-member prices, some products that are continuously on loyalty promotion and others that never return to their non-member price when the offer ends.

'Insulting customers' intelligence'

Many shoppers like the big discounts offered by loyalty pricing, but others are suspicious that non-member prices are sometimes hiked to make discounts look better than they really are. 

Indeed, our survey of 1,970 shoppers revealed a worrying 55% think the non-member prices are higher than the usual selling prices of those products at that retailer.

One told us, ‘The price charged for members seems to be pretty much the standard price on many occasions, whereas the non-member price is just a rip-off. Some stores are just insulting their customers’ intelligence.’ 

While this is a common belief, it's very difficult to prove – so we analysed the pricing history of almost 12,000 products on loyalty price promotion at Boots, Co-op, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Superdrug and Tesco to get to the bottom of what's going on.

Are non-member prices 'real'?

We took a snapshot sample of loyalty offers one day in May 2024, then checked how many times the items' non-member prices had been in place during the previous six months. This was done as a way of establishing to what extent the non-member price was a fair reflection of the 'usual' selling price for people who aren't members of the shop's scheme.

At Superdrug, 16% of the products we looked at had been at their non-member price for less than half the time. At Boots, it was 10%. When it came to the supermarkets, it was 10% at Tesco, 5% at Sainsbury’s and 3% at Co-op. 

At Morrisons, it was 20% of the products in our investigation, but our sample size of 45 items was very small due to Morrisons' limited number of loyalty prices.

Here are some of the worst examples we uncovered: 

• St. Tropez Self Tan Classic Bronzing Mousse (240ml) at Superdrug. Non-members £31.99, members £21.33. But just 14 days before our snapshot day, it was £21.33 for everyone.
• Oral-B iO7 electric toothbrush (blue) at Boots. Non-members £400, members £150. But it was only £400 for 13 days before. Prior to that, it was £150 for everyone.
• Lindt Lindor Cornet Blood Orange Truffles (200g) at Morrisons. Non-members £6.30, members £4.50. But the £6.30 price was only in place for just over a month before the loyalty promotion started. Before that, the chocolates were £5 for everyone.
• Stella Artois Premium Lager Beer Cans (18 x 440ml) at Tesco. Non-members £16.99, members £13. But they had only been £16.99 for seven days before the loyalty promotion started. Before that, they were £15.99 all the way back to November.
• Birds Eye Chicken Nuggets with Golden Wholegrain (695g) at Sainsbury’s. Non-members £5.50, members £4. But they were £5.50 for just three weeks before the loyalty offer launched. Before that, they were £5 for everyone.
• The Ultimate Day & Night Duo – Olay Regenerist & Retinol Bundle at Superdrug. Non-members £71.98, members £59.99. But it was only £71.98 for 13 days before. Prior to that, it was £35.98 for everyone. 
• Olay Eyes Deep Hydrating Eye Gel For Tired Dehydrated Skin Moisturiser (15ml) at Boots. Non-members £24.99, members £15. Less than two months prior to this, it was £12.49 for everyone. 

We also found 649 products at Boots where the price for non-members was raised on the same day the loyalty promotion came into effect. Some of these may have been on a different kind of promotion immediately before the loyalty price launched – but it still calls into question the tactics being used and whether the non-member price used to show the saving is really genuine.  

• Find out more: loyalty schemes compared

No need to panic buy

It's common to feel a sense of urgency or pressure to buy when items are discounted, but our research shows loyalty prices are often cyclical – disappearing and then reappearing again regularly.

In fact, at Tesco, 33% of the products we looked at were on loyalty offer more than half of the time during the previous six months; it was 13% at Sainsbury’s.

We also found 18 products (although that was only 0.4%) at Tesco on loyalty price every single day for the previous six months. All of these were L’Oreal Elvive products.

At the health and beauty specialists, a massive 89% of the 1,755 products we looked at in Boots were on loyalty promotion for more than half of the previous six months, including 24 (1.4%) every single day. However, the majority of these items were own-label, and the Boots Best for Less campaign gives loyalty card holders 10% off its own-brand range all the time. Excluding own-label products, it was 25% of 193 Boots products.

Of the 718 products we looked at in Superdrug, 7% were on loyalty price more than half the time, but none were discounted for the whole time. 

• Find out more: how to spend less at the supermarket

Disappearing non-member prices

Even when promotions do finish, it’s not always the end of the story. 

We looked at data for six weeks after first spotting the loyalty offers. 

At Boots, 77% of products where the loyalty promotion had ended actually went to a lower non-member price than the one used during the loyalty promotion. At Superdrug, it was 8% of the products. 

This wasn't an issue with any of the supermarkets we looked at.

How do non-member prices compare at rival supermarkets?

Another way of investigating whether non-member prices are 'real' is to compare them against the prices being charged for the same items by competitors. 

We looked further into the loyalty promotions where the non-member price had been in place less than half the time in the previous six months. Of these, Sainsbury’s non-member prices were 13% higher than Waitrose’s, which seems surprising given Waitrose is regularly the most expensive supermarket in our monthly cheapest supermarket comparison. 

One example of this was a pack of Birds Eye chicken nuggets, which was £5.50 for non-members at Sainsbury’s but £5.25 at Waitrose and only £4 at Asda.

At Tesco, the non-member prices that had been in place for less than half the time over the previous six months were 10% higher than at Waitrose.

• Find out more: best and worst supermarkets

Should you join loyalty schemes?

Our investigation shows the discounts on offer to loyalty scheme members can be significant. 

In fact, the average savings on items included in loyalty promotions at the six retailers we looked at were:

• Superdrug: 33%
• Morrisons: 25%
• Sainsbury's: 24%
• Tesco: 23%
• Boots: 10%
• Co-op: 10%

And these are just averages – on individual products, the discounts were sometimes much bigger.

So if you are able and eligible to sign up to a loyalty scheme, don’t mind handing over your data and want the discounts, you should probably do so – you will undoubtedly pay less at the checkout.

But don’t be tempted to buy things you wouldn’t otherwise have bought, just because the saving looks impressive. In a worrying number of cases, the non-member price may not tell you the full story.

Which? calls for updated retailer guidelines

Our investigation has revealed instances where the non-member price has been raised just before the loyalty promotion is launched, times when the product hasn't gone back to the non-member price when the loyalty promotion ends, and loyalty 'discounts' that simply never stop.

We’ve also shown that some non-member prices are higher than might be expected, based on competitors’ prices for those same products.

The tactics vary between different retailers, and some are doing better than others – but our research has raised questions about every one of the loyalty pricing schemes we looked at. 

Which? believes the introduction of widespread loyalty pricing means the guidance around pricing promotions – which doesn't mention loyalty pricing at all – is no longer fit for purpose. So we're calling for the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) Guidance for Traders on Pricing Practices to be updated with specific guidelines for loyalty prices.

This would help businesses stay on the right side of the law and enable regulators to take faster, effective action when shops flout the rules. 

• Read our previous loyalty pricing investigation, which sparked a Competition and Markets Authority probe into supermarket practices

What the supermarkets say 

We asked the retailers included in our investigation to comment on our findings. They all said their promotions offered genuine savings and value. 

Boots said all its promotions, including Price Advantage, were assessed against applicable laws and guidelines set out by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. 

Co-op said no base prices had increased to accommodate its member pricing, and added that many non-member prices had decreased to ensure Co-op was competitive on key products. 

Morrisons said that in all three of our examples, the 'before' price was in fact a promotional price rather than the base price. 

Sainsbury’s said customers understood that factors like inflation, seasonality and promotions could affect prices, and added that it follows pricing guidance for the industry.

Superdrug said its products are regularly on a mixture of member-only prices, multibuy promotions, and price promotions open to all.

And Tesco said its Clubcard Price promotions follow strict rules, which include considering how they compare against prices in the market, to ensure they represent genuine value and savings. It added that those rules had been endorsed by Tesco's Trading Standards Primary Authority.

About our research

Supermarket prices taken on 23 May 2024. Boots and Superdrug prices taken on 8 May 2024. 

Prices taken from retailers' websites and provided by an independent pricing provider. They don’t include multibuys but do include discounts available to all where applicable. 

We surveyed 1,970 people who shopped at least once online or in-store in the previous six months. Survey ran from 6-8 June 2024; results are nationally representative.

Sample sizes: 

Average discount: Boots 1,822, Co-op 208, Morrisons 45, Sainsbury’s 4,820, Superdrug 898, Tesco 5,204. Non-member price over six months: Boots 1,755, Co-op 203, Morrisons 45, Sainsbury’s 4,475, Superdrug 718, Tesco 4,604. Latest pre-promotion price: Boots 1,697, Co-op 193, Morrisons 45, Sainsbury’s 4,472, Superdrug 717, Tesco 4,576. Continuous loyalty pricing: Boots 1,755, Sainsbury’s 4,475, Superdrug 718, Tesco 4,604. Post promotion price: Boots 340, Co-op 1, Morrisons 26, Sainsbury’s 2,469, Superdrug 821, Tesco 967. Competitor analysis: Tesco 143, Sainsbury's 111.

Average discounts are based on medians.

Competitor analysis based on the average difference on branded products in the snapshot sample available at both retailers.