Last Updated on 4 April 2023 by Dan
Hello everyone! Here at the Wilderness we’re a huge fan of loyalty schemes. So long as you don’t use them to buy more than you need to, they’re often extremely rewarding for getting you some extra freebies. Today we’re looking at the Best UK Loyalty Cards and Apps out there in 2023.
Given these days you can don’t require physical loyalty cards, and can put them on a phone we’re advocates of signing up to as many as you can – even irregular usage can add up to a fair amount of saving.
If a loyalty scheme is in this list, it’s something we think is worth your phone space anyhow – we’re focused only on those schemes that offer particular benefit.
Just remember to treat loyalty cards and apps as a nice bonus – unless there’s a very particular advantage you get, they shouldn’t drive you to spend more than you need. Sometimes you need to mentally remind yourself of this!
However, if you think there’s a top UK Loyalty Card or App we’ve missed we’d love to hear from you about it, so please do drop us a line!
Best UK Supermarket Loyalty Cards and Apps in 2023
Supermarkets are great territory for loyalty cards – it’s shopping for essentials that you’re very likely to be buying anyhow, and can be relatively high value.
Most supermarkets have a loyalty card or app, but we’ve written some extended reviews of what we think are the Best UK Supermarket Loyalty Cards and Apps.
Tesco Clubcard
Tesco Clubcard Review – The Tesco Clubcard loyalty card has a decent basic earnings rate, but has huge advantage when cashing in your vouchers with Tesco’s partners where they over have 3x value.
Lidl Plus
Lidl Plus Review – Lidl is one of the cheapest UK supermarkets to begin with, but also has an excellent loyalty card which offers additional rewards at various points of monthly spending, alongside regular vouchers on specific products.
Asda Rewards
Asda Rewards Review – Asda have relatively recently revamped their loyalty card which offers some extremely generous rewards for purchasing specific products or specific ranges, in the form of missions and star rewards.
MyWaitrose
MyWaitrose Review – MyWaitrose is the most personalised of the UK Loyalty Schemes, offering you some excellent discounts on specific items. It’s a little bit fiddly to use in practice though, but rewarding if you do.
Nectar Card
Nectar Points Maximisation – We think Nectar is a step behind some of the other UK Supermarket loyalty scheme/programmes, but we have a guide here to maximising your Nectar points here.
Best UK Restaurants and Lunch Loyalty Cards and Apps in 2023
Most UK Restaurants and Lunch loyalty schemes operate on a “stamp” basis where you get a little reward after a series of visits. If you’re an office worker visiting these pretty regularly, it makes sense to grab a card for these:
MyMcDonalds Rewards
MyMcDonald’s Rewards Loyalty Review – Initially rolled out in the US, MyMcDonalds has now come to the UK as well. You earn points for spending which can be redeemed at various tiers, and there’s regular offers that appear within the app for special promotions.
Pret Perks
Pret Perks Review – Pret Perks is a per visit loyalty scheme, which rewards you with a bonus item on a 10th visit. Given just how many office workers get their daily lunch or breakfast at Pret, it’s worth a look,
Greggs Rewards
A planned article for the future rather than one we have now – but we think Greggs Rewards is worth a lot. It acts differently to other loyalty schemes as you have to pre-pay into a wallet, but then get rewarded after 9 purchases in a specific category (hot food, breakfast etc.) with a free one.
Leon Club
Leon Club is the loyalty scheme from Leon. 10 points are earned on each £ you spend in store, and at 3000 points can be converted into a free meal. When worked out, it’s very generous – a free dinner after every 3-4 meals or thereabouts.
Itsu Butterflies
Itsu Butterflies – Healthy lunch brand Itsu has a new butterflies here, where in exchange for spending £5 in store you’ll get a “butterfly stamp” – collect 8 and receive a free meal.
If you enter code 66950 when signing up you’ll get a free butterfly!
Best UK Coffee Loyalty Cards and Apps in 2023
Coffee was really one of the products that started use of the loyalty card in a big way – these very much tend to act on a stamp type basis.
Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee – Costa’s scheme is particularly beneficial. You only need 8 stamps, rather than 10 to get a free coffee and they’ll give you a bonus green stamp if you use a reusable cup, making it a free coffee with every 4 drinks. There are also fairly regular Costa Friday’s promotions as well. (If you’re not a member, signing up with our link will get you 5 free stamps on your first purchase).
Cafe Nero
Cafe Nero – The Cafe Nero loyalty card / app is a free drink after 10-stamps program, although in practice, Cafe Nero run fairly regular promotions which let you earn bonus stamps. You’ll also earn an extra stamp for using a reusable coffee cup. Signing up with our link will get you a free bonus welcome coffee if not a member.
It’s also worth noting that you can make additional savings at Cafe Nero in two ways:
- If you have taken out any type of insurance or product with Compare the Market, you can use their Meercat Rewards app to get a QR code for 25% off Cafe Nero at any stage
- You can link a MyWaitrose card to your Cafe Nero rewards app to get 25% off Cafe Nero’s seasonal menu, and get a free coffee on linkage. You can find the option to link your MyWaitrose card in the “settings” menu within the Cafe Nero App.
RWRD
RWRD – If you like an independent coffee shop, RWRD is the app for you. Beyond helping you find good independent coffee shops, it operates a stamp scheme for many of them – just touch in and it’ll record your loyalty visits.
Best UK High Street Loyalty Cards and Apps in 2023
Unfortunately the UK High Street has become slim pickings for good loyalty schemes given how tough times have been. We’ve love to add some more schemes to this section, so please do let us know if you have one.
Boots Advantage Card
Boots Advantage Card Review – Whilst Boots isn’t the cheapest, it’s Advantage Card scheme is absurdly generous, offering a minimum effective cashback rate of 5% and offers that can improve this further.
Best UK Travel Loyalty Cards and Apps in 2023
Again, travel isn’t a field which benefits much from loyalty owing to the nature of the product – but one of our absolutely favourite loyalty schemes can be found here so we’re featuring it!
Hotels.com Rewards
Hotels.com Rewards Review – Hotels.com rewards is very generous, offering a rewards payout of effectively 10%. After 10 nights, you’ll get a voucher equivalent to the average cost of your 10 nights. There’s also other small advantages through their tiering scheme.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about our list of the Best 2023 UK Loyalty Cards and Apps please let us know, and we really would like to hear about any we’ve missed! Just drop us a note in the comments below or via our contact us form.
And that’s it!
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