Last Updated on 9 May 2023 by Dan
Hello everyone! We continue our series on supermarket rewards schemes by doing a review of Asda Rewards. Asda Rewards is a little bit different to how some other supermarket loyalty schemes work so an interesting one – but we’ll be applying our classic question to it: Is Asda Rewards worth it?
(Please note: Loyalty schemes change all the time so whilst everything is correct at time of writing, there is always potential for slight changes!)
How do I get started with Asda Rewards?
To use Asda Rewards you’ll need to download the app on your phone and register though the app.
You can download the app here for an Apple user.
Or you can download the app here as an Android user.
How does Asda Rewards work?
Asda Rewards works the same as other loyalty schemes in respect of the fact that you scan a loyalty card after shopping, using the Asda Rewards app.
Triggering various Rewards puts some money into your Asda Rewards “cashpot” – when money is in that pot, you can convert it into vouchers.
How do you put money into the Asda Rewards cashpot?
There are three key methods of topping up the Asda Rewards cashpot – some will come from milestones on overall spending, some from spending on specific items and some from purchasing particular star products.
It’s a little bit complex as a system, but one thing I like about Asda Rewards is that it doesn’t force you to “opt in” to missions and offers like several rival supermarkets loyalty offerings. As a result you can just scan at the till to get most of the benefit without too much thought for 80% of the benefits.
Let’s now break down the specific earning approaches however to explain what they do, and how to maximise them.
I’m going to list the earning methods in the order of how beneficial they are and how much attention I think they’re worth:
What are Asda Rewards Missions?
Asda Rewards missions are spending targets where you need to spend on a specific group of items (such as bakery products) rather than on your overall shop.
The amount you need to spend depends on the specific section – however we think the missions are worth some attention.
The reason for this is that rewards are offered on some fairly low spends – I had offers for a £1 cashpot reward for spending £5 in the bakery section, and £5 for buying from a Vegan range.
You should only buy these products if you need them, but that’s a very generous 20% return on spending, extremely generous by the standards of most supermarket rewards schemes.
As a result, we suggest keeping an eye on missions to time taking advantage of these offers on products you might buy anyway.
How long do I have to complete Asda Rewards missions?
Most seem to run for about a month, but they get issued on a weekly basis so different missions may expire at different times. You can see the time remaining on a small cream box in the top left of any mission within the Asda app.
What are Asda Rewards Star Products?
Asda Rewards is at it’s most rewarding when it comes to star products. These are where in exchange for buying a specific item, you’ll receive instantaneous money in your Asda Rewards Cashpot.
Some of these are a simple cash value, some of them are a percentage of the purchase price – aimed to be about 10% return.
It’s worth particularly keeping your eye out for the “super star” buys which have particularly high level of Rewards, usually greater than the 10%.
These are handy as they’re often on the type of products you’d buy anyhow! It can be worth checking the list before you’re shopping, as you might have “sausages” on your shopping list but switching to a particular brand that’s a star buy may reward you better.
One note of caution on star buys though – a lot of the products are branded ones. It may be worth considering if sticking with an own brand option may still be a cheaper option overall, despite the star reward. Moneysaving off higher prices isn’t moneysaving!
(And don’t forget you can combine Star Products with Missions to maximise rewards).
What are Asda Rewards Milestones?
Asda Rewards milestones tend to be based around overall spending targets rather than specific – for instance, spending £100 in store over a month. Once completed, you’ll be rewarded with a fixed amount for your cashpot.
However, completing each milestone will unlock a new milestone – the more you unlock, the more you’ll get as a Asda Rewards cashpot at the end.
The milestones appear to vary each month. At the time I originally reviewed the scheme, completing milestones 1-3 will earn you a £1 reward for each completion. Milestones 4 and 5 will earn you a £2 reward, and milestone 6 will earn a £4 reward, with each milestone having been hit after each £100.
On re-looking (May 2023) the milestones have changed so they’re hit more frequently at £75 and there’s now 10 of them, however have lower payouts – particularly the later one.
This sounds exciting but in practice, you need to be a particularly big spender, like shopping for a large family if you’re to consistently hit the later milestones.
As a result, we would suggest not focusing in on milestones too much in terms of your attention.
How do I find Milestones, Star Products and Missions in the Asda Rewards app?
For star products and missions, click on the “earn” button in the grey bar at the bottom of the Asda Rewards app.
The page that appears will show your missions by default (scroll down to view them all). There’s a grey bar near the top of the page which will allow you to change over to a view of the star products.
For milestones, this can be found on the “home” button in the grey bar at the bottom of the Asda Rewards app. Just scroll down the main page and you’ll see a section called “milestone missions” which will display it.
Further down there’s also a summary of available missions and star products, but it’s not as detailed or complete as using the method above.
How do I cash in my Asda Rewards cashpot?
Once you have money in your cashpot, you’ll need to convert it into a voucher in order to actually spend it.
To do this, click on the “spend” button in the grey bar at the bottom of the Asda Rewards app. This will then bring up a slider for exactly how much of your cashpot you would like to convert into vouchers.
Once done, your vouchers will appear on the “wallet” page of the app – please note you must scan the voucher at the till as well as your Asda Rewards barcode for it to apply successfully. You cannot just scan your Rewards card.
There’s a couple of things to be aware of here. Money in your cashpot will expire six months after earning, so it’s best to try and get it spent once you’ve earned it, rather than saving it up for a big shop at some point later into the year.
When converted into a voucher, the voucher will also have an expiry date on it (you’ll be able to see this displayed against the voucher in the wallet tab on the app). Just keep this in mind as you don’t want your hard earned Rewards to be wasted.
Overall review: is Asda Rewards worth it?
Yes, it’s a very good reward scheme when used with a bit of targeting. Rewards for overall spending are not bad if require high spending for real benefit, but the very generous payouts on missions and star products mean this reward scheme stands about that of other supermarkets.
Extra points are granted for a good design to the app, and a customer centric approach of not requiring opt in on each offer which is a real breath of fresh air compared to rivals.
Where we had minor concerns, it was the relatively short time you have to spend the money in your cashpot – this can catch you unawares if you forget about it, but I haven’t been too punitive given six months should be enough for most people.
As such if you’re an Asda shopper, we think that using Asda Rewards is very much worth it.
Asda Rewards Blue Light Card Benefits
Holders of a Blue Light Card will get an extra 10% in the Asda Rewards cashpot when spending it store if you link your Blue Light Card.
You can do this easily by going into the app, clicking “more” then “memberships” and “link your blue light card”.
If you’re a qualifying person (in the NHS, emergency services or armed forces) this is absolutely well worth doing, particularly as the blue light card can get you significant discounts elsewhere as well.
Other FAQ’s about Asda Rewards
Is Asda Rewards free?
Yes, Asda Rewards is entirely free although you’ll obviously have to buy some groceries from there in order to get benefit from it!
Can I use Asda Rewards on an online shop?
Yes you can. You’ll still need to download the Asda Rewards app onto your phone, and then use the same sign in details you use for your Asda Groceries online shop – a single sign in applies for both.
The scheme works in exactly the same way online as in store.
Can I get Asda Rewards on petrol?
The terms and conditions appear to exclude any benefit for buying petrol at Asda (although I haven’t tried this myself so please let me know if this is incorrect).
What if I forget to scan my Asda Rewards card?
Unfortunately they won’t backdate scans, even with an old receipt – so try and always keep it in your head when heading to the tills!
How does Asda Rewards compare to other Supermarket loyalty?
And if you’d like to read about other supermarket loyalty schemes, we’ve got a review of Lidl Plus here, a review of MyWaitrose here, a review of Tesco Clubcard here and a guide to earning more Nectar points here.
Any questions?
If you’ve got any questions about Asda Rewards, or had some particularly beneficial moneysaving from it we’d absolutely love to hear from you! Just get in touch using the comments below.
And that’s it!
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It is stated milestones 4 and 5 earn £2 reward. Not so, it’s only £1. Milestone 6 is supposed to be £4, again it’s only £1.
Can someone explain pls
Hi Jackie, thanks very much for reading. The actual milestones change each month rather than are consistent (the numbers you’ve mentioned were accurate in the month I originally reviewed Asda Rewards but they’ve made a couple of changes). Previously there were just six milestones earned at £100 spends – this month it’s 10 milestones at £75.
Pluses and minuses with this – it’s now easier to hit the early ones, but the later ones don’t have the larger £4/£5 mentioned before. I think this is a net positive for most, as relatively few people would have been spending the £500/£600 per month needed for the late milestones.
I’ve updated the article to make the variability clearer, and thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Here is my opinion of Asda rewards:
When the App works, it is worth spending your money shopping at ASDA
BUT it often breaks down and the accounts are locked up for 3-4 days before you can use it again
Their contact phone number is a waste of time.
In experience the breakdown usually happens just before a major long weekend or a bank holiday
This timing is convenient for ASDA knowing that shoppers are likely to spend more before a bank holiday so that they (Asda) doesn’t have to give away too much rewards
It’s a complete contrick and waste of time
What happens when you say it’s locking up your accounts, Louis? Haven’t seen this issue myself to date.
Not sure if this has happened to anyone else but when milestones were issued in April mine didn’t appear and haven’t done since. Contacted Asda to ask reason why, no response after 5 emails. I now have just missions on my app – back to Tesco for me. If they can’t even afford the courtesy of an explanation, I refuse to give them my custom.