Benefits offered by supermarket loyalty cards are 'meaningless' to customers claims Waitrose boss Mark Price from Waitrose says shoppers want instant rewards and not points collected over several months Waitrose is increasing sales while Tesco and Sainsburys which both offer loyalty cards are losing market share myWaitrose card gives shoppers instant benefits including a free cup of coffee or a newspaper The benefits offered by conventional supermarket loyalty cards, such as Tescoâ€™s Clubcard, are â€˜meaninglessâ€™ to customers, a rival has claimed. The boss of Waitrose argues that shoppers want instant rewards, rather than points that are collected over months and then used to claim discounts on groceries and days out. Mark Price is speaking from a position of strength as Waitrose is putting on sales while the likes of Tesco and Sainsburyâ€™s, which both run points based loyalty cards, are losing market share. Loyal: Mark Price from Waitrose claims supermarket loyalty cards like Sainsbury's Nectar are 'meaningless' and shoppers want more instant benefits instead of collecting points for months and months He claims that shoppers prefer the benefits offered by the myWaitrose card, which includes a daily free cup of coffee or newspaper. The offer of free coffee has been enormously popular with the chainâ€™s high street outlets now giving away around one million cups a day. But, while this has been good for Waitrose in terms of building customer loyalty, it has been a disaster for independent coffee shops, who have complained about losing vital trade. Some have suggested they may make a formal complaint to the Office of Fair Trading because Waitrose is effectively using its financial muscle in a way that could put some small coffee shops out of business. Mr Price said he understood the free coffee deal has been â€˜disruptiveâ€™, however he insisted customers prefer it to the points earned with conventional supermarket loyalty cards. He said: â€˜Giving free coffee or free newspapers is disruptive to the market, but I think that is what customers want, I donâ€™t think they want a point. Offers: Mr Price claims that shoppers prefer the benefits offered by the myWaitrose card, which includes a daily free cup of coffee or newspaper â€˜I mean, what is a point? I think itâ€™s meaningless. It doesnâ€™t have the richness, it doesnâ€™t have the affinity you can gauge if you engage with your customers in a different way. â€˜It is about what do consumers value today, not what did they value historically. So green shield stamps, or points, were a response to what happened post-war . . . I just donâ€™t think that is where the world is now.â€™ Tescoâ€™s Clubcard was the brainchild of the chainâ€™s former boss, Sir Terry Leahy, in the early 1990s and was instrumental in making it the UKâ€™s biggest supermarket with a 30per cent share of grocery sales. As well as inspiring loyalty among shoppers, it provided Tesco with a huge amount of information of the nationâ€™s shopping habits. As a result, it was able to tailor the range on offer in each supermarket to the tastes of local shoppers, so dramatically boosting sales. Success: Tescoâ€™s Clubcard was the brainchild of the chainâ€™s former boss, Sir Terry Leahy, in the early 1990s and was instrumental in making it the UKâ€™s biggest supermarket with a 30per cent share of grocery sales It was so successful that Sainsburyâ€™s followed suit with its Nectar card, which has been credited with delivering an improvement in its fortunes. Recent independent trading figures show Tesco and, to a lesser extent, Sainsburyâ€™s have lost market share over the past year. By contrast, Waitrose has seen an increase of 6.7per cent. However, it is debatable as to how much the different approach to loyalty cards has played in this shift in fortunes, The fastest growing supermarkets in the UK are Aldi, where sales are up 30.6per cent in a year, and Lidl, where sales have jumped 15.5per cent. These no-frills retailers do not offer any kind of loyalty scheme, which can be expensive to run. Rather they concentrate on keeping prices below those of the mainstream supermarkets. Tescoâ€™s ClubCard has some 15million users, suggesting it remains popular with customers. Chief executive, Philip Clarke, has made clear he is fully committed to the loyalty scheme. In fact, he said information gathered through the Clubcard is proving more useful than ever to, for example, target personalised promotions at customers surfing its website. For example, Clubcard spending data means that people who are known to be price sensitive will see website advertisements and promotions for the Everyday Value range. There are also Apps which allow people to keep a check on how many points they have earned and how they can be used. Mr Clarke said: â€˜Clubcard will always be rooted in rewarding people for their loyalty to us.â€™