The Unofficial Sainsbury's Thread

[AGuyFromUpNorth]

But, most importantly, little old bits of Sainsbury’s design keep getting exposed as they refurbish things, including some lovely orange and white subway tiles that have been revealed when peeling back a fake wall. I’m sure they’ll be covered up again by some shelving in a couple of days, but nice to see some old stuff peek through.

This seems to be quite common with supermarkets - they hide things behind walls, freezers etc. I know some of the older Morrisons stores still have those tiles with the different fish on and false windows that were part of Market Street years ago hidden behind those false white walls. I assume it was probably just cheaper to cover them rather than to remove them.

Reminds me of that shopping centre in the US where they took down a false wall and found a fully intact 1980s Burger King. It probably happens way more often than you'd think, just not usually on that sort of scale.

[BBC TV Centre]

This seems to be quite common with supermarkets - they hide things behind walls, freezers etc. I know some of the older Morrisons stores still have those tiles with the different fish on and false windows that were part of Market Street years ago hidden behind those false white walls. I assume it was probably just cheaper to cover them rather than to remove them.

When our local Waitrose had a refurb, they removed some of the fridges and at the same time the fake boxing in panels round the columns. It revealed all of the mosaic tiling effect from years back they'd applied to it, and sadly all got covered up again once the works were finished.

I also noticed in our local Sainsbury's that had a massive refurb they'd also placed fake tile effect vinyl wallcovering in all of the toilets on the walls, as opposed to doing real tiles. Guess the accountants were in charge of that one.

[Martin Phillp]

Changes to My Nectar Prices at Sainsbury's from July 25th.

As you're an active Nectar Sainsbury's shopper we're informing you of changes to the way you access Your Nectar Prices. For your personalised discounts, which will be valid from 25th July 2025, this means:

• You'll need to ensure you're using version 11.8 of the Nectar app or later.

• You'll need to view and unlock Your Nectar Prices in the Nectar app each week before you shop. Your Nectar Prices will refresh every Friday, and you'll need to unlock them each week.

• If you'd like a regular reminder to unlock Your Nectar Prices when they refresh each week, please enable in-app push notifications in your Nectar app.

• From 25th July, you'll be able to use Your Nectar Prices at supermarket checkouts in any store. This is in addition to Smartshop and Sainsburys.co.uk.

[all new Phil]

Oh god can anyone be arsed with all that? Why have all these things become more complicated than ‘have some money off for being loyal’ or ‘here’s some vouchers for being loyal’?

[Jacket]

I'd say this is an improvement. You have to open the app to see what your offers are anyway so it's really no big deal to press an 'activate' button. And it's always sucked that you could only get the offers by using SmartShop, especially if you're just getting a couple of things in a Local, so being able to use any checkout is a bonus.

[Martin Phillp]

The biggest benefits will be for customers who use Locals as currently they have to use SmartShop and pay using a card which is linked to Apple/Google Pay rather than being able to pay at the self-service tills or the kiosk to get the discount.

Nectar app users already have to unlock their bonus points offers, so this will be no different, but for those who find SmartShop difficult to use, this is a major improvement.

[cdd]

Someone has clearly become incensed by the idea that people were getting discounts on things they'd buy anyway.

Years ago Somerfield (remember them?) launched a campaign that they had no loyalty scheme because their prices were low in the first place. It failed miserably because in 2008 or so loyalty schemes weren't that much hassle. Now they're becoming a nuisance we might see another supermarket try that angle.

[Jacket]

I think loyalty schemes were considerably more hassle in 2008 than they are now. For a start, you had to have a physical card for each store, which you either had to remember to take with you every time you went or keep in your wallet, which would end up bulging if you shopped in a lot of different stores. (And if your card was lost or stolen, there was nothing to stop someone spending all your points.)

With Tesco, you had to wait for a quarterly statement in the post to receive paper vouchers which you had to a) not damage or lose, b) remember to take to the shop with you and c) remember to use at the checkout.

With Nectar, you could only spend points at your nominated "home store", or another store you'd been to before (but not until 48 hours after the first time you visited). Any special points offers came in the form of paper vouchers with your quarterly points update, which again you had to remember to both take and use. If you wanted to use your points anywhere other than Sainsbury's, that was a faff too. You had to call a special redemption line and have vouchers sent out to you.

Now all my cards are on my phone, which I always have with me, I can add offers or vouchers to redeem in the app before I do my shop and they automatically apply at the checkout, or I can use points elsewhere easily (for example Nectar at Caffe Nero by generating a QR code in less than a minute with a couple of taps). Not to mention that although the number of Nectar points per £1 has halved, you can earn points much more quickly with the weekly offers - currently I can get 120 points for buying a £2 pack of loo rolls. I'd have had to spend £60 for those points in 2008. All much easier and better as far as I can see!

[scottishtv]

Years ago Somerfield (remember them?) launched a campaign that they had no loyalty scheme because their prices were low in the first place.

I'm pretty sure Safeway said the same thing when they ditched their Added Bonus Card (ABC) in the early 2000s.

I agree with others that it's pretty easy to be a member of lots of schemes now, especially when you can add them to your Apple/Google wallet so don't even need to find the retailer's specific app to open at the checkout.

That said, I'm not sure they really encourage loyalty now that it's so easy (and often economically sensible) to be a member of many of them.

Getting back to Nectar, I do press the unlock button when I get the notification of the usual offers every week but I've lost interest in going through the list, so it's just a bonus if I scan my phone and end up getting a few bonus points for stuff I was buying anyway. It doesn't influence what I buy on a weekly basis any more.