If you regularly shop at Sainsbury’s, you’ll probably have a Nectar card in your wallet. But are you taking full advantage of it?

Nectar is one of the UK’s biggest loyalty schemes, rewarding shoppers with points that they can either spend with other partner brands or redeem to save money at the till.

Here Telegraph Money takes a closer look at the scheme to find out the best ways to boost your points and the smartest ways to spend them.

How do Nectar points work?

The Nectar scheme works by paying cardholders points when they spend money at Sainsbury’s, as well as a range of other retailers including Argos and Habitat (which are both owned by the brand) and eBay.

You don’t just have to be shopping to earn rewards – you can also collect points when you stay with Nectar Hotels (a partnership with Booking.com) or book theatre trips and other attractions with See Tickets. You can also collect points on the road at Esso service stations.

According to Nectar.com, points can be collected with more than 350 brands.

To get points in store you will need to present your Nectar card (or your digital card with the Nectar app) at the checkout.

For online shopping you will either need to link your Nectar account with each retailer’s account to ensure you get your points or shop via the Nectar website.

The number of points you get depends on what you’re buying. For partner retailers you get two points for each £1 you spend; elsewhere you’ll commonly get one point for every £1 spent. For Esso fuel, it’s one point per £1, but two points per £1 spent in Esso shops.

If you’re shopping with Sainsbury’s, you may be able to boost your points when you take advantage of certain offers.

Points can then be spent in Sainsbury’s supermarkets, reducing the cost of your shopping.

Alternatively, you can redeem them with special offers from partner brands or convert them to Avios points to put towards British Airways flights.

How much are points worth?

Each Nectar point is worth 0.5p, but their value can vary depending on where you spend them.

This means 100 Nectar points is usually worth 50p; 500 points are worth £2.50; to get to £10 you’d need 2,000 points.

The best ways to collect Nectar points

If you do your regular food shop at Sainsbury’s you will quickly rack up a healthy points balance. However, there are ways to boost your point count even more.

Take advantage of personalised Nectar offers 

If you have the Nectar app, you’ll get personalised point bonuses based on your shopping habits, which means you’ll get more points when you buy certain items.

For example you might get an extra 50 points when you buy a punnet of raspberries or an extra 40 points for a carton of orange juice.

Note that these bonuses aren’t applied automatically. To use any of these offers you will need to “save” them on the Nectar website or app before doing either an online or in-store shop.

Since Sainsbury’s introduced its Nectar Prices scheme, you can also make significant savings on your shopping when you swipe your Nectar card at the checkout. Only those with a Nectar card can access the cheaper prices and you’ll earn points on your purchases too.

Get points to fill up at the forecourt 

You can earn one point for every litre of fuel you buy from a Sainsbury’s petrol station. However, you could potentially get more points if you use Esso instead. Nectar pays one point a litre and two points for every £1 spent in participating Esso branded service stations.

Don’t restrict yourself to Sainsbury’s spending

As mentioned you can collect Nectar points with 350 brands – and it’s likely you won’t be aware of all of them.

Therefore it can be a good idea to visit Nectar.com and make a note of all the retailers that let you collect Nectar points. Just make sure you know how to collect them – otherwise you might miss out.

While you’ll need to show (or swipe) your Nectar card if you’re shopping in-store at Sainsbury’s, Argos or Habitat, some online retailers (for example Argos and eBay) require you to link your retailer account to your Nectar account for the points to be applied.

Alternatively, some online retailers – normally those offering limited time additional points – require you to access the offer via the Nectar website. Simply click on the offer and Nectar will connect you to the retailer’s website to complete your shopping.

Plan your big purchases

If you’re planning to make a large purchase it can pay to look out for retailers that pay more points per pound. 

At the time of writing Debenhams was offering eight points per pound, up from a normal rate of three. Apple was paying five points for a limited period instead of three, while Tui was offering three points on package holiday bookings for every £1 spent.

These enhanced offers, however, can normally only be accessed if you shop online via the Nectar website.

Consider bonus points for financial services

Some of the Sainsbury’s Bank financial services offer additional points when you take out a policy with them.

You’ll get 4,000 new points for example if you buy car insurance from Sainsbury’s Bank and a guaranteed discount on your cover.

Get extra points for taking surveys

You might even be able to get extra Nectar points without spending any money at all. At the time of writing Nectar Canvass was paying a “surprise amount of bonus points” (up to 10,000), after you complete your first online survey.

You can then continue to earn extra points whenever you take further surveys.

Boost points with a credit card

You can also earn Nectar points with the American Express Nectar credit card. It pays three points for every £1 spent on the card (and loyalty card) with Nectar partners and two points for every £1 spent elsewhere.

There are also a further 20,000 Nectar points up for grabs if you spend £2,000 in the first three months.

There’s an annual fee of £30 after your first year but with a purchase rate of 31pc, it’s important to pay your balance off every month.

American Express card holders can also convert any membership rewards they won’t use to Nectar points. 

Combine with Avios

If you’re part of the Avios points scheme you can link your account to Nectar. Not only can you convert Nectar points to Avios points but if you have Avios points that you’re unlikely to redeem, you can also convert them to Nectar points and spend them on your shopping instead.

Bonus points will always be appreciated.

However it’s important that you don’t let them sway your spending decisions too much. For example even though Sainsbury’s and Esso pay rewards for buying fuel, you may still be able to fill your tank for less elsewhere.

This is particularly important for financial services like insurance or credit cards – you should always check that any deal you sign up to is the right one for you rather than being swayed by special offers.

Think of points as a nice little bonus rather than a reason to buy.

Where can I spend Nectar points?

You can spend your Nectar points at Sainsbury’s or with one of its partner retailers to get money off your purchase. However, there aren’t as many brands that let you spend Nectar points as those that let you collect them.

Partner brands that let you spend points include:

  • eBay
  • Argos
  • Habitat
  • Dulux Decorating Centres
  • Eurostar

Depending on the retailer and how you’re making a purchase, you might be able to select your Nectar points as a payment option at the checkout (be it in-store or online) or you might be issued a voucher code as a money-off discount.

You can also donate money to Comic Relief using Nectar points.

According to Nectar’s website, Nectar points don’t have a particular expiry date – so you’re not under any pressure to spend them by a certain time. However, if your account is left for a year or more without any Nectar points being earned or added then it assumes you “no longer want to take part in the Nectar programme” and your account will be closed.

What’s the best way to spend your Nectar vouchers

The standard exchange rate will work out as £2.50 off your shopping for every 500 points you spend – this can vary depending on the retailer. It’s also worth keeping an eye out on the Nectar website for offers that are worth more than their monetary value.

There aren’t always many deals available but these were on offer at the time of writing:

  • One long-standing option is to exchange 300 Nectar points for 5p off a litre of fuel at Esso service stations. The deal is available when you put between 10 and 60 litres of fuel into your car. Once you’ve put 30 litres in the tank you’ll start getting better value for money than spending your points in the conventional way.
  • You can also exchange 400 Nectar points for any hot drink at Caffe Nero, which works out at just £2.

Alternatively if you just want to use your points to cut the cost of your shopping, it might be worth thinking tactically about the best time to spend them. Saving them for expensive times of year, for example, can be helpful – getting a free or cheap trolley of shopping on a self-catering holiday perhaps or when you do your big Christmas shop.

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