What is Tesco Clubcard Plus and is it worth the cost?

What is Tesco Clubcard plus and is it worth the cost? this seems to be a common question on the internet right now after Tesco set up a web page for the new Clubcard plus rewards scheme. Some of the details are still sketchy in regards to exactly what you’ll get for the £7.99 per month subscription cost. But there are some things we can start to work out from the details they’ve given us.

What is the Tesco Clubcard Plus subscription?

For a fee of £7.99 per month, Tesco is set to launch their new Clubcard plus service in the UK. It should be available for all Tesco customers to use in UK stores. as already mentioned there are limited details on their website. I’ve reached out to Tesco’s asking them for further details and below is what they’ve given me so far. They have also said they will keep me informed of the official launch date.

• Clubcard Plus will give you up to for Great benefits for 7.99 a month.
• It will give you 10% off two “big shops in-store” with some exclusions and limits applied to this.
• It will also give you 10% off selected Tesco brands in store including F&F, Fred and Flo, Tesco Pet, Fox and Ivy, Go Cook and Carousel. These apply all of the time.
• For those with mobiles, it will give you double data on Tesco Mobile contracts, but no further details have been released.
• Then from Tesco Bank, you will be able to get a “no foreign exchange fees abroad credit card” from them.
• Access to this service will be made available via the Tesco mobile app.
• Whilst it is a subscription service, Tesco state that it will be easy to cancel at any time.

What do these changes mean?

All of these changes to Clubcard and how it works are hot on the heels of the 2018 update when Tesco’s introduced their Clubcard Boost promotions. Those 2018 Clubcard Boost updates effectively made Tesco’s vouchers worth 3 times as much on certain items and deals.  Then, in 2019, the Clubcard Prices promotion was introduced offering a reward scheme for members giving discounts of between 10 and 50% in stores. Overall the Clubcard Prices promotion has so far been something not many people have been talking about or buzzing about. Hopefully, Clubcard Plus will be better.

What are Tesco Clubcard Plus benefits?

The first of the benefits, and in some ways the most important one, is 10% off two “big shops” in-store. This needs clarification because one person’s big shop is another person’s quick top-up. The thresholds that they place on spending limits and “what a big shop is” will dictate whether it’s worth the subscription cost.

The monthly cost is £7.99 per month. Annually, that’s a grand total of £95.88 per year. When you factor in this is a fee-paying loyalty scheme, the benefits and perks have to outweigh the cost. In an attempt to illustrate your potential savings under this scheme look at the list below. Track down to the line closest to your weekly shop cost and see if you will save.

As you can see from the chart above you’ll need to be spending between £25 and £50 at least twice a month to make the savings worth it. If you live near a Tesco store and are fond of small basket shops then this might not be for you. However, if you regularly plan large shops (or have a large family to feed) this might work out well. Do note however that the reason they’ll probably be doing this is to tie you into shopping at Tesco stores.

Of course, my evaluation of worth is just based on how much you will save with the 10% off, not on the other perks and benefits. So let’s look into the other benefits more…

Is 10% off Tesco brands a good benefit?

This will be an interesting one. Usually, the tills in Tesco stores work in a specific order when applying discounts and multibuys. It will be intriguing to see whether you have 10% off your full price or 10% off after multibuys and discounts. If the 10% discount is “before” offers being applied then there’s potential for stacking deals for bigger benefits. It will also be intriguing to see if the 10% off brands “stacks” on top of the 10% off too big shops in-store offer.

What is the Tesco Bank “No Foreign Exchange” benefit?

Tesco bank offers an array of credit cards already. This benefit will obviously only be available to those over 18 and in UK residence. it currently remains to be seen whether they will be launching a new card or updating an existing offer. Needless to say, if you’re planning a trip abroad this could be a useful benefit, but always remember to compare rates and cards. This will be interesting as there are more and more startups such as Revolut flooding the market with cards good for spending abroad.

Will Clubcard Plus replace the FREE Clubcard Scheme?

I’ve asked Tesco a few times for details. Some representatives have referred me just to the current holding page and the information on the Tesco website. Others have said it is not intended to be a replacement scheme for the current free clubcard. This is good as I would hate to see customers being exempt from membership simply because they couldn’t “buy-in”.

It’s obvious that the Tesco brand have realised that competing supermarkets like Sainsbury’s are upping their game. Sainsbury’s recently released their New Nectar rewards app. Meanwhile, Aldi and Lidl are opening new stores everywhere to compete on the high street with market leading prices.

I think Tesco’s are actually being very clever here though. If they get the right price point for subscriptions and the perks are good people will keep coming. This was evident when The Sun launched their own online subscription service with perks a few years back. They gained huge numbers of new members extremely quickly. However, The Sun Perks subscription members were gained via hefty sign-up offers in the form of freebies. Ultimately, it died a death as the perks drained too much from the scheme – i.e. it was too good to be true. Tesco will need to balance this reward scheme carefully to be a success for both of them and their customers.

Clubcard plus staff discount and Colleague Clubcard Plus benefits?

I like it when a company gives extra back to its staff, particularly in supermarkets. Tesco has had its own benefits for staff. This has been in existence for a while. Details of these can be accessed by Tesco employees via the Our Tesco website and forum. it would be my hope that any existing staff discount will stack on top of this new endeavour. I’ll update this section of the article when I know more. In the meantime, if you work for Tesco and can shed any light on this aspect please let me know.

Where can I register for a Clubcard Plus account?

You should be able to register for this service via the Tesco’s website directly. As the site updates, more information will become available. An updated section of the Tesco Clubcard app will hopefully also allow you to register, linking your existing Clubcard seamlessly. Once registered you should have your Clubcard Plus account login details kept safe in case you need to use them to update any part of your Tesco membership.

As far as I am aware there will be no individual Clubcard Plus app. everything should work to the existing app development and platform. It also currently remains unclear whether you will get an individual club card plus card delivered in the post. Most likely I think it will just be in account upgrade unless they go PR and advertising heavy.

I would like to see Clubcard plus Prezzo offers and other Clubcard plus outlet can retailer offers. But we will have to wait to see what other perks appear.