Is the new Tesco Clubcard Plus credit card, which earns Avios, worth a look?

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• Alex W says:

  1 Feb1 February 08:08

  You always know when the title of the article is a question, the answer is almost always “no”!

  If the answer was “yes” the title would be “jump on this deal before it gets pulled”!

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    1 Feb1 February 08:14

    I thought the biggest bang with this was max out the 2x spends per month by purchasing gift cards.

    • Shoestring says:

      1 Feb1 February 08:18

      does that actually work?

      • BJ says:

        1 Feb1 February 08:29

        I don’t think so. Besides, you already know that a 10% discount on giftcards is common place these days without subscribing to anything, and bigger discounts can often be obtained.

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          1 Feb1 February 14:17

          If your referring to Amex morries then this is not every month whereas Tesco is!

      • Secret Squirrel says:

        1 Feb1 February 14:15

        Yes, mix it up with a little bit of shopping.

        • BJ says:

          1 Feb1 February 17:34

          No, I meant that I don’t know why Harry was getting interested about a 10% discount when he can normally do better without a subscription such as 15-20% MOC, and that place he is always singing about 🙂 However, I guess he usually jumps at anything 10%+ provided he can use it.

        • Shoestring says:

          1 Feb1 February 17:54

          I’m trying to quell my inner FOMO

• Spurs Debs says:

  1 Feb1 February 08:14

  I might of signed up for this BUT it doesn’t apply to Dot.com shopping.
  I spend approx £150 a week on shopping but I have it delivered. I’m not trekking into Tesco’s and lugging all that shopping about when they bring it straight to my back door, not even to save 10%.

  • Brian P says:

    1 Feb1 February 08:18

    Yes, this is the weird bit.. Not applicable to home deliveries.. Frustrating.

    • Richard Shakeshaft says:

      1 Feb1 February 09:02

      Thank you for adding this critical detail! Spending an least £40pw to avoid the basket charge was making me think this was worth it, and just wondering how the shops for the 10% saving were chosen.

    • John says:

      1 Feb1 February 10:06

      They want you to go in store so they can tempt you to buy more stuff. It doesn’t work as well online.

      • BJ says:

        1 Feb1 February 10:44

        They are trying to do this at Sainsbury by mixing offers and suggestions into favourites lists, I find it very annoying.

      • RussellH says:

        1 Feb1 February 11:33

        Yes, we sometimes find that they have deducted 13p from the bill for something that is on “clubcard special” that day. But we only find out about the offer at the checkout!

        As far as we are concerned, on-line grocery shopping is useless as you never get the real bargains – the ones with the yellow labels on.

      • Crafty says:

        1 Feb1 February 23:21

        It’s more to do with the fulfilment cost. The supermarkets all now regret their arms race on home delivery and are pulling back where possible.

        • Lady London says:

          2 Feb2 February 09:06

          Like it or not though except for certain niches, delivery is going to replace a lot of bricks and mortar cost. Look at the mayhem in the high streets with shops closing and properties not re-letting.

          The thing is delivery has scale advantages through centralisation of logistics and fulfilment. But distance to reach customers means more of the costs left are variable and
          financially distances to customers cannot profitably be infinite. As Royal Mail and courier co’s indicate with their lists of exclusions and extra charges. Legislation will be needed to fix that eventually so that seller and other customers share the burden of those customers who are expensive to deliver to after the reduction phase in bricks and mortar shops.

          I am sure the pension funds must be rebalancing any investment with high street property exposure for some years now. Unless there is a strategy by the investee to work with the trend e.g. convert high street to residential.

          So like it or not Tesco is going to have to keep delivering as that is where the expansion is and eventually people being delivered will have to be funded as a mixed fixed and variable cost (as compared to fixed cost of bricks and mortar) and will have to receive incentives as well.

          Massive OT but it’s Sunday and socially important.

      • Spurs Debs says:

        2 Feb2 February 07:45

        Speaking to 2 long term Tesco employees this is exactly the reason. If I have to go into a shop I always spend more, with home deliveries the only time I have something different or extra is if they send a substitute.

        • Spurs Debs says:

          2 Feb2 February 09:26

          Lady London, my Son has worked for them for over 20 years, and he believes in 20/30 years time it will all be Dot.com.

  • Sussex bantam says:

    1 Feb1 February 08:39

    I agree completely. Would have been all this if it included on_line but where I would comfortably spend enough to make it work. Haven’t done an instore big shop for years !

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    1 Feb1 February 08:40

    I think this is a cut and paste article repeating the same error. The 10% only applies to in-store purchases. A pretty fundamental detail.

    • Rob says:

      1 Feb1 February 09:31

      Will add, sorry

  • Scott says:

    1 Feb1 February 09:23

    Your post should say “might HAVE”, not “of”. An error of seemingly increasing occurrence.

    And it’s called Tesco, not Tesco’s. Tesco’s what? Never understood why some folk feel the need to make some proper nouns possessive, but not others, e.g. ” I’m going to Asda’s “, said nobody, ever.

    • Rob says:

      1 Feb1 February 09:28

      You have clearly never met a working class Northerner. It is relatively standard do to pluralise names. I will still occasionally say ‘I’m going to Tescos’.

      • Shoestring says:

        1 Feb1 February 09:33

        my kids (urgh!): I’m going Tesco, I’m going town after school

        • Lady London says:

          1 Feb1 February 13:58

          Is that the West Country version 🙂

      • Mr(s) Entitled says:

        1 Feb1 February 09:36

        Sweet Jesus. Is that for real?

        As the comment was directed to Spurs Deb any sweeping comments about her that you can enlighten us on based off her language?

        • Doug M says:

          1 Feb1 February 12:42

          I can tell you based on her name she is a woman of discerning taste and intellect when it comes to choosing a football team 🙂

        • BJ says:

          1 Feb1 February 17:38

          An acquired taste you mean?

        • Spurs Debs says:

          2 Feb2 February 08:25

          @Doug M and BJ

          Many people would say I’m an acquired taste 🤣

          Supporting Spurs teaches you all about managing your expectations and disappointment. Both skills you need in life.

        • Lady London says:

          2 Feb2 February 09:09

          Could be worse. You could support West Ham.

      • mutley says:

        1 Feb1 February 10:48

        You stopped being a working class northerner the moment you left Oakwood!!

        • Rob says:

          1 Feb1 February 10:55

          Very possibly 🙂

        • mutley says:

          1 Feb1 February 11:26

          Having said that, works both ways, 2nd son is now a paid up northerner having spent the last three years of a four year masters at Sheffield, he loves it up there.

      • RussellH says:

        1 Feb1 February 11:40

        Yes, I hear ‘I’m going to Tescos’ all the time. Or even ‘gan Tesco’s’ Not Asda’s though. Surprising really, since Asda is much bigger and busier than Tesco here.
        And of course, it IS Sainsbury’s, NOT Sainsbury or Sainsburys.

        What you really need to be aware of round here is “Gan yam.”

      • Anna says:

        1 Feb1 February 16:33

        “I’m going to th’ASDA” is still common round here!

    • Spurs Debs says:

      1 Feb1 February 09:34

      Get a life Scott or in good old Bucks language FO
      Has your post added something of value to the article no, mine did. All yours has done is show you up to be an arrogant twat.

      • Scott says:

        1 Feb1 February 10:57

        OK, I’ll F off in a bit…but would you say you were going shopping at Asda’s ? Or flying with Virgin’s? Or exchanging currency at Bank of Scotland’s? I’m going to bet you wouldn’t, so why the inconsistency with Tesco’s ?

        As to Rob’s comment about never having met a working class Northener – class/region offers absolutely no explanation for the points raised (my background is more working class than 99% of folk on here.)

        • BJ says:

          1 Feb1 February 17:43

          Hope you’re not the Tory son of good Socialist stock Scott? If not then stick around, the rest we can forgive.

        • Spurs Debs says:

          2 Feb2 February 08:02

          I also say “ me foot is hurting or me back half hurts “
          Instead of my, I know just shoot me for my crime of bad grammar. My point still stands your post added nothing of value to the subject, you just want to try and belittle me. Well you crack on if you have nothing else in your life but to spend your time correcting people’s grammar I feel sorry for you. On plus side with the invention of internet at least you and your hobby will never run out of people to feel superior too.

    • Travel Strong says:

      1 Feb1 February 10:28

      “I’m off to ASDA’s” said everyone, in south wales, always.

      • Nick_C says:

        1 Feb1 February 18:34

        I remember when they used to say “I’m off to carry fours”

    • Doug M says:

      1 Feb1 February 13:29

      Scott, as you’re the grammar police, don’t you think might have should in fact have been ‘may have’ anyway. Might have implies there is still a decision, given Deb’s has made her decision I believe it’s may have. In many ways correcting this sort of thing is as tedious as my own post, we all type at speed on different devices, there is no correction or comeback, once you click that’s it.
      Correcting Rob is fair game, he posts the site content and should be held to a higher standard than the comments 🙂

      • Peter K says:

        1 Feb1 February 14:04

        I hear Asda’s all the time, and Tesco’s. On the other hand I also hear “I’m off to Sainsbury”.

• LewisB says:

  1 Feb1 February 09:06

  Had a free two months of Clubcard plus in the mail yesterday. Check your spam! It’s worth a free trail for sure. Cancel anytime.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    1 Feb1 February 09:31

    99p for Pataks Aubergine pickle! That’s me bought a case! Thanks.

    • BJ says:

      1 Feb1 February 10:10

      Ever tried picked walnuts?

      • Colin MacKinnon says:

        1 Feb1 February 10:33

        BJ, pickled walnuts, anchovy stuffed olives… maybe we should have a HfP gourmet tapas event in Edinburgh!

      • BJ says:

        1 Feb1 February 18:25

        I didn’t say I liked them 🙂

  • LewisB says:

    1 Feb1 February 09:39

    That’s fair enough. They have a big extra store next to my work and next to my home so Tesco works nicely for me. Usually get decent coupons too.

  • Lady London says:

    1 Feb1 February 14:00

    Geeta’s mango chutney half price? I’ll get my coat.

• Tracey says:

  1 Feb1 February 09:32

  Hey, shame about all the negative feed back.
  I have Tesco Clubcard Plus and I think it worth it. I pay £95.88 per year and get £200 of my shopping plus Double data on my Mobiles which saves me £240 a year plus £48 off Mobile bill per year Family perks for having more than one mobile. That’s £392.12 in my pocket.
  I also love Shopping at Tesco’s.

  • Mike says:

    1 Feb1 February 09:59

    That’s a very specific type of person though that uses Tesco in the right way (big shops), and has Tesco mobile. It’s great that you get the benefits and you’re the type of person that should definitely be signed up to this, but for most people it means either changing their shopping habits, changing their supermarket or changing their mobile provider, and given the context of this site for earning points, it really is not an attractive offering. Kudos to you though for identifying it as a good fit for you and grabbing the benefits.

  • John says:

    1 Feb1 February 10:01

    It’s only £392 if the Tesco mobile perks can’t be found elsewhere for cheaper, and the £200 discount is a real discount on things that you would actually buy.

    If Tesco is your most convenient supermarket that is fine, but they may be 5-10% more expensive than elsewhere.

  • MD says:

    1 Feb1 February 10:11

    Do you by any chance work for Tesco? 🤔

    • Rob says:

      1 Feb1 February 10:58

      Plenty of people still doing £150 shops at a Tesco Extra every fortnight.

      • Lady London says:

        1 Feb1 February 13:34

        Yes but those are the people who so far have used their Tesco points for money off their shopping. They are not into the effort and tenacity required for our hobby as they’re not interested.

        I think the card is mistargeted – or very well targeted to those who are already loyal to Tesco and not in our hobby.

        There are plenty of Tesco customers who still do the traditional shop. They would really hoover up £40 discount per month on their shopping for a cost of £8. Other benefits would pass them by except maybe the mobile phone one. This type of customer probably hasn’t got the many better deals in the market – they’ve gone for Tesco instead.

        Tesco may even be pleased to hear those with our hobby aren’t interested.

        • Ken says:

          1 Feb1 February 15:27

          But why would you not be interested in Tesco? Every pound I spend in Tesco earns me 3.9 Avios points. Is there any other supermarket that can beat that?

    • TimTam says:

      1 Feb1 February 14:02

      +1

  • Liz says:

    1 Feb1 February 12:51

    I am the same as Tracey. We’ve shopped in Tesco since late 1980’s. I now do all my in laws food shopping so my bill is higher each month. Now switched this to 2 big monthly shops and get some fresh stuff in between. We have 3 tesco mobiles in our family account and i take the extra CC pts as the perks. One nominated card now gets double data and double points so it works for us too. The first month the app didn’t work and we got a manual refund of £20. We were then able to still do the 2 big shops in Dec so got about £60 back less the £7.99 fee in the first month. It works for us. Got £76 of vouchers coming this month. Sainburys stopped sending us MOC and my MIL doesn’t receive them from Tesco anymore either.

• Ken says:

  1 Feb1 February 09:53

  I signed up to the Clubcard Plus when it launched in November. I’ll probably cancel it soon as it’s not that good. In the few months I’ve used it I think I’m about £1.20 ahead of the fees I’ve paid. The reason is that so many items in store do not qualify for the 10% discount. If you spend £60 you might expect £6 discount but it’s more likely to be £4.50 because things like “home ware” and many others don’t count. So, buy a mop, a set of dishes etc, etc and you won’t get the 10% discount on them unless they are part of the more expensive range of say Fox & Ivy. Ultimately, it’s not worth it unless you regularly spend a very large amount at least twice a month.

  • Simon says:

    1 Feb1 February 10:11

    I’ve been making it work by waiting until I’m running low on lots of stuff, taking out the subscription, doing the 2 big shops, then cancelling the subscription until ot suits me to take it out again.

    • Sloppy Second says:

      1 Feb1 February 15:47

      oooh thats Crafty – I may do that 😉

• Lee CB says:

  1 Feb1 February 11:19

  Hmm, was reluctant to commit to £7.99 monthly fee but as OH spends >£100 a week at our local Tesco in store this will work for us

  • mutley says:

    1 Feb1 February 11:59

    It’s interesting how people are swayed or not by loyalty cards/points. I think in general the general populace like a bargain irrespective of points on offer. I’m not sure how much impact new Tesco card will have on consumer behaviour.

    I have kept a spreadsheet of expenditure over the last 7/8 years (terribly anal I know). Seven years ago we spent approx. £250 a month in Sainsburys, £180 in Tesco, £250 in Costco and £60 each in Waitrose and M&S.

    Roll on to 2019, £50 monthly in Sainsburys and Tesco, £125 in Aldi, £50 in Lidl, Asda £65 Coop £55 Costco £275. Waitrose £60, We used to collect Nectar and Tesco Clubcard, but no more, now we use Amex for more or less all of it.

    • David says:

      2 Feb2 February 10:55

      Well done on that list. One berometer if you can call it that, is the amount of items under £1 in Aldi/Lidl and the amount of items of that same price in Tesco. Difference to me in incredibly noticeable.

• Richard G says:

  1 Feb1 February 11:45

  This works for me, and to be honest, even though the points rate isn’t great, I’d be happy to once again have a card I can use abroad and get points.

  I tend to average about £150 a month in Tesco over two shops, so that definitely covers me for the base price.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    1 Feb1 February 19:21

    Curve backed with an IHG premium will serve the same purpose.

    I know a lot of weight is put on Avios around these parts but flight deals are abundant hotel points can be a god send when you need to be somewhere there’s an event etc

    • Alan says:

      2 Feb2 February 00:39

      Agree, I’m much more into collecting hotel rather than airline points now.

• Dr Doo says:

  1 Feb1 February 18:05

  Seems like a duff deal to be honest much better with the IHG premium card.

  You can get 4% off if you are able to get a employee perk programme and the double data is not really worth anything if you choose the correct package in the first place.

  • Aston100 says:

    1 Feb1 February 21:22

    An employee perk programme?

    • Peter K says:

      1 Feb1 February 23:20

      Some places of employment allow you to buy gift cards at a discount. Eg Tesco might 4% off, Halfords 8% off etc.

      • David says:

        2 Feb2 February 10:51

        I have this very perk from work but I have found my trolley half full and at the till it’s £40 odd. A trolley full as well as with the same items in Tesco is £40 odd in Aldi/Lidl.

        4% off of no use to me.

      • Lady London says:

        3 Feb3 February 09:09

        Thinks like nextjump. I forget the names of the others. Wouldnt mind hacking a few.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.