News of changes to the hugely popular Dunnes Stores Shop and Save grocery voucher scheme is sending shockwaves through the savvy shopper community right now.
The supermarket giant, it seems, is making changes to its voucher scheme but not in a way that shoppers are happy about.
To be fair to Dunnes they have had huge success with their voucher initiative.
Whoever came up with the idea is sitting right up there in the Marketing Hall of Fame with the person who invented the Wild Atlantic Way.
The Dunnes Stores €10-off-€50 voucher scheme has been a major hit with shoppers and has no doubt attracted thousands of customers to Dunnes when they may have not shopped there traditionally.
Seeing that you have only a day left to spend your voucher can be a big incentive to stop by the store and spend €50 to save €10.
However, news broke this week that the most recent Shop and Save Vouchers Dunnes were issuing to customers were now only valid for ten days rather than the traditional 14 days.
When asked about the change there was no reply from Dunnes but this move could have far-ranging consequences for shoppers.
There could be weeks when a grocery shop is missed due to holidays or other life events and if that is the case then the voucher will be useless.
However, there is a Facebook page to rescue hardcore Dunnes shoppers in the form of the ‘Dunnes Voucher Group’ which has more than 109,000 members and strict voucher-swapping rules.
It is a very active group and you can swap vouchers that may be going out of date or ask for vouchers also.
It’s not all bad news, however, for those who regularly use their Value Club card at Dunnes.
The supermarket also just announced that it is running a ‘Big Christmas Giveaway’ every week for anyone who uses their Value Club card.
They will be giving away a full Christmas shop worth €200, spot prizes in every store and five holidays worth €1,000 over the month of December - and one shopper will win an entire year’s worth of groceries to the value of €10,000.
Of course, Dunnes Stores isn’t the only supermarket to lure customers with loyalty schemes and vouchers.
Tesco were the first big supermarket to bring in the idea of a loyalty scheme and that was around 25 years ago.
In recent years however, Tesco has changed how it is operating its loyalty card and now you can expect to pay a lot more for your groceries in Tesco if you don’t use your Tesco Clubcard.
This is not without consequences however and the watchdog in the UK has just announced that it is launching a review of loyalty schemes like Tesco’s one to see if it is fair that members should be entitled to lower-priced goods than those who are not members of the scheme.
For now, however, it is business as usual and anyone who shops at Tesco and uses their Clubcard will be well rewarded.
The price difference can be significant too.
For example, at the moment a large tin of Pringles will cost €3.49 in Tesco without a Clubcard and will cost just €1.50 if you scan your card.
A Christmas box of Cadbury's Heroes will cost €6.50 at the till but if you scan your card you will bring the price down to €3.99.
SuperValu also has reinvented its loyalty scheme called ‘Real Rewards’ in the past year and now offers more regular weekly vouchers to loyal customers.
They also include coupons on their app for various items such as 75 cent off own-brand toilet rolls or 80 cent off own-brand kids' waters.
SuperValu also runs a very popular turkey scheme each Christmas and is doing so again this year.
They offer anyone with 500 tokens the chance to buy a half-price turkey.
You get tokens each time you shop in the store.
It is also worth keeping an eye on Super Valu’s ‘Flash Deals’ as alcohol is not included in the voucher scheme for any supermarket but SuperValu does have flash deals on alcohol aside from the general money-saving scheme.
Aldi does not have any loyalty scheme but Lidl introduced one a few years ago and that is also proving very popular with shoppers.
With the Lidl scheme, everything is done on the app and they offer customers ‘treats’ each week.
These come in the form of significantly discounted items which you can save money on by scanning your app.
For example, recent treats include 50% off the price of cherry tomatoes or free gift wrapping paper with certain toys.
They also had a recent selection of discounts on wines and proseccos with up to 31% off the full price of some bottles if you scan the app at the till.
As Christmas approaches, all eyes will be on Marks and Spencer and they won’t be left out in the cold when it comes to loyalty schemes.
They have their ‘Sparks’ scheme running in Ireland for shoppers.
This takes the form of an app also and each week shoppers will be offered different ‘treats’.
For example one of the latest ones was a free Swiss chocolate bar once you swipe the app.
They also have a ‘12 Days of Christmas’ offer starting soon which will see shoppers being offered a different reward each day and these include things like a free pack of Percy Pig sweets or free pastries.
Loyalty schemes are a big deal for supermarkets and figures show that nearly three-quarters of Irish shoppers are signed up for some loyalty programme in the major stores.
However supermarkets are not offering these schemes because they care about you as a person, these schemes give these supermarkets valuable insight into you as a shopper and they also reward loyalty so they use them as a way to lure you back to their store.
Dunnes want you to come back to their shop and not head across the road to Tesco which is why there is a time limit on using their vouchers.
Aldi, the only big supermarket in Ireland not to run a loyalty scheme, did some research last year and said that shoppers they surveyed said that they intentionally overspent or bought things they didn’t need in order to hit the required spend for vouchers or loyalty schemes.
Of course, as a store that doesn’t run a loyalty scheme, they are biased here but there can be some truth to the claim that shoppers can see the end prize rather than looking at what they really need.
Chief executive of the Consumer Association of Ireland (CAI), Dermott Jewell said that the changes implemented by Dunnes Stores on the Shop and Save vouchers are "poor consideration" adding that it is "reminiscent of the old days of credit note and voucher terms being determined by business without any consideration or consultation with the valued customer."
"Acknowledging that these are in a different league it is nonetheless disappointing to note a reduction as opposed to an extension of the earned credits through loyalty to the store. This action, really, is a message for consumers to consider how, as opposed to giving their comprehensive marketing and shopper trend data for free in an environment where the benefit is seriously limited and, certainly, undervalued, why they should not take their business elsewhere."
Mr Jewell said that it has long been the view of the Association that loyalty schemes do little to benefit the consumer who, he said, is limiting their choice as to whom they give their hard-earned money.
"It has always been the case that, in terms of value for money paid, reducing prices at the highest level of competition is the only true reflection of how best to engage with and hold the loyalty of a customer," he said.