ASA throws out Sainsbury's complaint over Clubcard ad

Sainsbury’s has failed in an attempt to force Tesco to pull an ad which featured the line “Clubcard gives you more to spend on your groceries than Nectar. Stacks more”, despite claims that it was misleading.

The outdoor digital poster for Tesco, seen in September last year, featured an image of a stack of sandwiches. Text stated, “Get more with” alongside the Tesco Clubcard logo.

Further text written in roundels stated, “£1 from 100 Clubcard points*” and “50p from 100 Nectar points*”. Text beneath stated, “Clubcard gives you more to spend on your groceries than Nectar. Stacks more”.

Small text at the bottom of the poster stated, “*Clubcard points are worth 2x the value of Nectar points when converted for spend at Tesco and Sainsbury’s respectively. Value of Nectar points for spend at Sainsbury’s checked at nectar.com on 30/08. Comparison excludes Nectar points value enhancing or bonus points offers. Details at tes.co/nectar-spend-partners.”

But miffed Sainsbury’s bosses complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, challenging whether the comparison between the Tesco Clubcard and Nectar loyalty card scheme was misleading.

In response, Tesco said that consumers would view the ad as making a specific comparison between the conversion value of Clubcard points and Nectar points for spend on groceries and that it was not misleading to advertise and highlight specific elements of a loyalty scheme.

The retailer believed it was commonplace in the grocery retail market for supermarkets to advertise specific elements of their loyalty schemes without highlighting other elements and benefits and provided examples of such ads.

Tesco believed customers had a good understanding of the differences that could arise between loyalty schemes across the retail sector, and even produced the finding of a survey it had carried out in August 2023 to prove it.

In its ruling, the ASA dismissed Sainsbury’s concerns, adding that while there may have been differences in the savings and collection of points between the two schemes, the ad highlighted that the same number of points converted to twice the monetary value with Tesco compared to Sainsburys when used for groceries and was therefore not misleading.

The watchdog ruled that no further action was required.

The move comes as Tesco has started trialling personalised pricing with a select group of Clubcard members, offering participants ‘Your Clubcard Prices’ on selected products that the supermarket knows they like.

A spokesperson said: “We are constantly looking for ways to make Clubcard work harder for our customers. And with Clubcard Prices on thousands of products, it is already saving customers up to £385 on the annual cost of their groceries.

“We are currently offering Your Clubcard Prices to a trial group of our Clubcard members, giving them offers on products they regularly buy at Tesco, in addition to the thousands of Clubcard Prices available to all Clubcard members each week.”