Asda Rewards blitz to give 'millions' to primary schools

Asda making millions of pounds available to UK primary schools by encouraging families to use its loyalty programme – Asda Rewards – in what is claimed to be a “first” for the loyalty market.

Spearheaded by a new marketing campaign, fronted by Joe Wicks and devised by Havas, the supermarket is offering to donate 0.5% of the value of any shop done at Asda until November 30 2024 to customers’ primary school of choice, when they shop using Asda Rewards.

The supermarket is kicking off each school fund with £50 and offering to top up with an extra £1 for every customer that selects their school. The retailer is projecting to donate around £7.5m through the campaign.

The initiative allows users to select their own benefactor and raise unlimited funds, simply by using their loyalty app, and with no impact on their own Cashpot earnings.

The retailer insists the move signals the significant growth of the Asda Rewards programme, which launched two years ago in August 2022 and now has over 6 million weekly users. Since launch, users have earned over £525m in their Cashpots, which they can put towards their shopping at Asda.

Asda chief customer officer David Hills said: “The entire team at Asda are absolutely delighted to launch Cashpot for Schools today – an initiative that is testament to our commitment to supporting families, and evidence of the incredible opportunity created by our Asda Rewards programme.

“We know that 87% of families are asked to contribute to their primary school to support funding – with some families contributing up to £138 per year, which is a significant sum when budgets remain tight.

“The power of Asda Rewards means we can create a route for them to donate directly to their school, simply by doing their normal shopping with Asda and benefiting from the great value we offer everyday, as well as topping up their own Cashpot. It’s a game changing initiative for schools and a win win for customers.”

The initiative sees Asda partner with charity Parentkind, which has provided data for all 22,000 state funded primary schools in the UK, allowing families to select their school of choice in the app. Parentkind is conducting diligence on all school bank data to ensure that, when the campaign closes, Cashpots can be transferred to schools for them to invest in the resources they need.

Cashpot for Schools is the latest campaign launched in Asda Rewards. Its ‘Christmas Saver’ tool – which allows customers to put their regular Cashpot savings aside for festive shopping – has already seen over 1 million customers put £28m away for Christmas 2024, while the Rewards Baby Club launched in March gives users 10% back in their Cashpot across all baby products.