FASHION giant H&M is shaking up its loyalty scheme and axing popular perks in the process.
The high street favourite is following in the steps of other major retailers by offering exclusive lower prices for members, as part of changes taking to place to the scheme next month.
Currently new members also receive a 10% discount when signing up to the scheme but this offer will be cut from March 17.
At the same time, H&M‘s special birthday offer for members is also being dropped.
The move is likely to disappoint loyal customers who currently get a generous 25% off an item each year on their birthday.
The annual discount and new member deal will instead be replaced with exclusive prices, as well as event invites.
Loyalty members will continue to have pre-access to sales.
A spokesperson told The Sun: “H&M is evolving its membership program to stay relevant for customers and deliver more exclusive benefits throughout the year.
“The current birthday offer will be phased out, making way for rewards such as member prices, pre-access to sales and exclusive event invitations.
“This applies to the welcome offer as well. We are making these changes with the aim of continually enhancing the H&M Membership experience and ensuring our community feels rewarded year-round.”
The changes comes after the chain increased fees for online returns earlier this month.
Customers now have to pay £2.95 to send back a parcel ordered online up from £1.99 previously.
Members of the loyalty scheme now also have to pay the charge whereas previously they did not.
The returns fee was introduced in September 2023, following the likes of Zara, Boohoo and Next.
Member pricing
H&M’s benefits scheme will give members access to lower prices than those who are not a part of the scheme.
Member-only pricing has become more widespread among retailers in recent years.
Special discounts for members means you be left out of pocket if you don’t sign up for membership – forcing the hand of shoppers who would prefer not to give their personal details to big companies.
Membership schemes create invaluable data on the shopping habits of their customers so it makes sense that companies are keen to sign up as many shoppers as possible.
Many of the big supermarkets including Lidl, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons offer discounted prices especially for members.
But H&M is among one of the first fashion chains to introduce special lower prices for members.
However, a number of chains offer loyalty schemes that can help you save.
For example, River Island offers 10% discount to new members and discounts year-round.
And members of Marks and Spencer loyalty scheme Sparks are also offered special discounts and freebies.
What is loyalty pricing?
You may have heard of loyalty pricing, but do you know what it is?
Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons are three supermarkets that offer customers signed up to their loyalty schemes exclusive discounts – known as loyalty pricing.
All three retailer’s schemes, Nectar Card, Clubcard and More Card, are free to sign up to as well.
The obvious advantage to loyalty pricing is that you can save potentially hundreds of pounds a year on your shopping, all without spending a penny.
But different supermarkets offer exclusive discounts on different products, so do some research before doing your shopping.
Either way, be wary of supermarkets artificially inflating prices to make it seem like you’re getting a better deal than you are.
A previous investigation by consumer group Which? found Sainsbury’s and Tesco have increased the price of everyday goods then slapped loyalty prices on them thinking customers wouldn’t notice.
Either way, it’s worth shopping around though.
Supermarkets change their prices all the time, sometimes multiple times daily, so it’s worth researching to ensure you’re getting the best price on an item.
You can use websites like Trolley to see how the major supermarket’s compare in terms of price on any number of goods.
