Which loyalty cards are best?

Most of us have a wallet or purse stuffed with store loyalty cards. But are we making the most of our loyalty points?

The price of loyalty

The table below shows how the big four loyalty cards reward customers. The best one in terms of earning points is the Boots Advantage Card. This clocks up points the fastest.

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But don't let that tempt you into doing all your beauty shopping at Boots. When Which? magazine investigated loyalty cards in June they found that buying a hairdryer, men's razor and electric toothbrush at Boots.com would cost £351 and earn almost £14 in points. But the exact same products cost £120 at Amazon.co.uk. In fact, day-to-day products such as toothpaste and soap are frequently cheaper in supermarkets - own branded goods in particular - than at Boots.

The same health warning applies to the Waterstone's card. You will build up money-off points quite quickly but the chances are you could get a better price for your books elsewhere. It's worth checking prices on their website and Amazon before buying in-store.

Overall it makes sense to have a Boots and Waterstone's card on you when you go shopping but bear in mind their schemes are not a good enough reason to choose to shop in those stores.

Make the most of supermarket cards

As for the supermarket loyalty cards, Tesco's Clubcard and Sainsbury's Nectar card, are both worth having after all, collecting point adds little to your time at the check-out.

However, to get the most out of them, make sure you are earning points in every way you can. For example, the Nectar card can be used at numerous outlets including BP petrol stations and Dolland & Aitchison (D&A) opticians. So if you get your contact lenses from D&A make sure you've given them your Nectar card number. You can also collect Nectar points every time you pay your electricity and gas bills if you are an EDF customer, or Tesco Clubcard points if your supplier is E.On.

If you are really dedicated you can also collect Nectar points by doing your 'nternet shopping through their site. Click through to numerous websites including Amazon or Next from Nectar eStores and you can earn points while you shop.

How to use loyalty points

Millions of us don't do anything with points. That means the stores win twice, as they have got our custom and don'' have to actually reward loyalty. So set aside some time this week to see just how many points you have built up on your various cards and work out the best way to use them.

The easiest, but also the worst, thing you can do with Nectar or Clubcard points is use them to get money off your shopping bill. The best way to make the most of your Tesco points is actually trading in the standard money-off-shopping vouchers for Clubcard Rewards vouchers. These are worth up to four times as much, so if you have a voucher for say £10 money off in store, you can convert it into £40 off a day out at London Zoo, or 240 Airmiles.

Similarly with Nectar points, redemptions usually work out better than spending the points in store. A point spent in store is worth 0.5p off. But a free Vue Cinema ticket costs 1,000 points (1,300 in London) that's the equivalent of £5 (or £6.50 in London) off your Sainsbury's spending, which is less than the standard £6.80 cost of a Vue cinema ticket.

Also watch out for the Nectar summer sale when products are often available for half the usual points.

Happy summer shopping!

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