Sainsbury’s spring Nectar Double Up event cancelled

Shock news for savvy Nectar point collectors eagerly awaiting details of the Easter boost. But is this the end of the Sainsbury’s Double Up event?

Sainsbury’s will not be holding a spring Nectar Double Up promotion this Easter.

The popular event gives Nectar loyalty cardholders the chance to exchange their points for twice their value and can be redeemed in-store and online twice a year.

The supermarket has held the Nectar Double Up every spring and autumn for the last few years and savvy collectors tend to save up their points in anticipation of the boost opportunity.

Unexpected move

The news that it has been scrapped will dismay loyal Nectar members that had been eagerly awaiting the event.

Many have been contacting Sainsbury’s via Twitter to try and glean more information about when the spring promotion would launch.

Sainsbury’s response as recently as a week ago had been coy and gave no indication the event wasn’t taking place this year.

@markie75952894 Not at the moment Markie, but we'll advertise it widely. Keep your eyes peeled! Ryan

— Sainsbury's (@sainsburys) March 10, 2017

@MrCEmmerson This is top secret info, keep your eyes peeled, Chris! Your namesake, Chris.

— Sainsbury's (@sainsburys) February 1, 2017

Is this the end of the Sainsbury’s Double Up?

Many supermarkets have been scaling back loyalty scheme benefits.

Last year, Tesco scrapped its popular Clubcard Boost event, which allowed shoppers to double the value of their Clubcard vouchers twice a year.

Sainsbury’s has confirmed to loveMONEY its Easter event has been cancelled. However, the autumn Double Up event, which normally takes place in November, is expected to go ahead as usual.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told us: “We constantly review our Nectar event cycle to provide customers with relevant offers that deliver great value.

"Double Up won’t be running this Easter, but fans will be pleased to know that the event will be back later in the year.”

Boost your Nectar points with a reward credit card

Why has Sainsbury’s done this?

We asked Sainsbury’s why it had taken the decision to scrap the popular Double Up promotion this Easter, but they didn’t provide a specific comment.

It comes as the supermarket giant announced its latest set of financial resultsd, which show sales slipped in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Like-for-like were down 0.5% on the same quarter last year, while total sales were broadly flat with a rise of just 0.1%. There was also a 4% fall in non-food sales, which the supermarket blamed on a later Easter and Mother’s Day compared to last year.

Is there a bright side?

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Sainsbury’s has suggested it will launch a new Nectar promotion for shoppers this Easter.

A spokesperson said: “We’ll also be running a new event in April that we think our customers will be really excited about. We’ll be sharing details of that event soon.”

Other ways to boost the value of Nectar points

The simplest way to boost the value of your Nectar points without the Double Up promotion is to collect more.

One way to do this is to take advantage of reward credit cards that offers a Nectar points boost as an introductory offer.

You can get 5,000 bonus Nectar points with the Sainsbury’s Bank Purchase Credit Card when you spend at least £250 in a Sainsbury’s store within the first month of opening an account. The offer ends on 26 March.

There’s also opportunities to boost points when you shop at eBay, donate to Oxfam and travel by train.

For more take a look at our guide: How to boost your Nectar points.

Compare reward credit cards

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