The company says this strategy has brought in a million extra customers within a few

The company says this strategy has brought in a million extra customers within a few months.The two supermarkets whose customers are least likely to shop elsewhere are Asda and William Morrison Neither has a loyalty card scheme. “We keep our prices low by not spending money on loyalty cards,” said a spokes-man for Asda. In a recent survey of 5,500 Asda customers, only five people wanted a loyalty scheme to be introduced.Despite this, the big two – Tesco and Sainsbury’s – have found their own schemes popular. “The card is a good tool for gathering more information and seeing what customers want to see on the shelves,” said a spokesman for Sainsbury’s, which has 17 million Reward cardholders.Fourteen million people have a Tesco Clubcard, and 85 per cent of till transactions use the card.According to the retailer, the development of its online delivery service would not have been possible without the Clubcard holders’ input, which has also helped boost its organic range.If you use a loyalty card, a supermarket will know not just how much you spend each month on shopping but also what your favourite cheese is, how many children you have and where you live Such information is becoming a sellable commodity.

Tesco was recently criticised for selling information on its Clubcard holders to other companies.Last year Boots joined with internet bank Egg to produce an all-in-one loyalty and credit card, which has proved highly successful. Egg had attracted 140,000 new customers by the end of the year, and Boots Advantage cardholders represented the largest proportion of these. Boots earns commission on every extra service the new Advantage/Egg customers buy.The investment made by the big retailers in loyalty card schemes has produced a vast amount of information on customers’ shopping patterns. But to justify the cost to shareholders, the supermarkets will have to think up more creative ways of using this information Loyalty has its price – and it’s not one many want to pay..

After one of the toughest reporting seasons for years, the City will this week be given some breathing room in which to pause, ponder and very possibly panic. After one of the toughest reporting seasons for years, the City will this week be given some breathing room in which to pause, ponder and very possibly panic.
The flow of blue-chip results has now completely dried up in the UK, coinciding with an equally quiet time for economic indicators. Because the past month has been so busy, the market has been making most of its decisions on the run, waiting for a gap like this week to settle down and work out what on earth has been going on.Unfortunately, those conclusions are likely to be negative. Although last week ended on a mildly upbeat note for markets around the world, only the most raging of bulls are prepared to call these levels buying opportunities.There may be something of a rally in the early part of the week, but it will likely be abruptly stemmed and lethally dangerous to investors who bet the farm on it.