M&S has confirmed it will be ditching its member pricing ‘Sparks Prices’ trial as it reviews how its customer loyalty scheme will operate in the future.
CEO Stuart Machin first hinted at a wider rethinking of the loyalty programme just last week, suggesting that M&S Sparks Prices would be unlikely to be part of the new scheme going forward. This has now been confirmed.
“We are reviewing our current Sparks loyalty offer and as part of that, often trial new and different propositions, said a spokesperson for the retailer.
“Last year, we carried out some small-scale trials around Sparks Prices, which we won’t be progressing.”
M&S initially launched the member pricing trial last summer, offering exclusive discounted prices for loyalty scheme members across approximately 50 stores.
The retailer confirmed the trial had ended despite the ongoing success of member pricing for leading supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury’s, which both credited strong festive sales in part to their popular loyalty programmes.
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The move sees M&S setting itself apart from other UK grocers. Tesco has offered Clubcard Prices since 2020, while Sainsbury’s which launched its Nectar Prices offering last year.
Co-op announced earlier this week that it would be ditching its previous rewards scheme and replacing it with a “significantly increased” range of member-exclusive prices throughout the business, while Morrisons also relaunched its loyalty programme with member-only prices last spring.
Machin said the retailer would be “reviewing [its] loyalty programme,” during the M&S Christmas trading update last week. Despite over 18 million customers using the Sparks loyalty programme, he also revealed that he is personally less keen on the member pricing model.
“Whether I like it is a different matter, because actually I’d much rather us be focused on quality, style and value,” he said at the time.
“We know our customers would much rather have great products at everyday trusted prices and I’m quite stuck to that because that’s what our customers tell us.”
