Join our club(card) – how the cult of the supermarket loyalty card robbed us of normal prices

As Tesco is forced to overhaul its Clubcard price displays over accusations that customers can’t spot the best deals, Helen Coffey questions why loyalty schemes have gone from ‘nice-to-haves’ to practically mandatory

Tesco said its price labelling had been ‘formally endorsed’ by Trading Standards (Alamy/PA)

Helen Coffey
© UK Independent

It was Groucho Marx who famously said he wouldn’t want to be a member of any club that would have him as a member. The same theme was picked up by Woody Allen in the opening monologue of Annie Hall. Clearly, neither of them had ever tried shopping in Tesco without a Clubcard.

The supermarket’s loyalty scheme has recently come under scrutiny following claims from consumer group Which? in the UK that the way prices are displayed for Clubcard members is “at best confusing for shoppers struggling with soaring food inflation and at worst, could be breaking the law”.