Although you may have heard it a thousand times before, hypermarket loyalty cards can actually help you save money in the long run. A loyalty card allows you to earn points and other rewards each time you make a purchase.
On the business side, a loyalty card is primarily an incentive plan for retail business owners to retain their customers by gathering information on their shopping preferences. The general perks of owning a hypermarket loyalty card includes reward points, special member price for selected items and additional discounts of other merchants.
Here are several hypermarket loyalty cards that you can take advantage of:
1. AEON
| Card Name | AEON MEMBER card |
| Card Fee | RM12 for 1-year membership RM24 for 3-year membership |
| Reward Points | RM1 spent earns 1 AEON Point Points for Redemption: 1,000 AEON BiG Points = RM5 cash rebate |
| Earn Points | Shop at AEON Stores, AEON Wellness or Pasar Raya MaxValu. Get 300 AEON MEMBER points when you sign up for AEON MEMBER Card. Get 100 AEON MEMBER points by referring family and friends. Each successful sign up also earns 100 points. |
| Benefits | Earn AEON MEMBER Rebates worth 5% or 3% every time you shop at AEON General Merchandise Store. Every 6 months, your rebates shall be converted to AEON Gift Vouchers. RM10 rebate = RM10 AEON Gift Voucher. Redeem exciting gifts with your AEON MEMBER points. Shop at any AEON Store and Pasar Raya MaxValu to enjoy more savings with our Specially Priced Items. Receive exclusive birthday rewards on your birthday. Stay updated via e-mail or SMS and get special invites to AEON MEMBER Day, AEON MEMBER Privilege Day, AEON MEMBER Fiesta, activities and other attractive offers. Enjoy exclusive discounts from a wide selection of merchants. Collect a free copy of our bi-monthly PEARL Magazine. Enjoy free parking for the first 2 hours when you shop at AEON Mall. |
| Points Validity Period | 3 years |
While other hypermarkets offer you redemptions and offers for shopping items, AEON MEMBER offers shopping related benefits such as free parking for the first two hours. This allows you to save about RM4 if you spent 5 hours shopping on a Sunday, you only need to RM6 instead of RM10 (1 hour parking = RM2).
For every RM200 spent will help you accumulate 200 points, which is equivalent to RM1 redemption.
You also get to save money as you will be able to enjoy discounts from other merchants when you shop.
However, the room for redemption is selected or limited to AEON products compared to other hypermarkets loyalty card.
2. Tesco
| Card Name | Tesco Clubcard Touch ’n Go |
| Card Fee | RM10.60 (for 18 years old & above only) |
| Reward Points | RM1 = 1 Clubcard point 400 ClubCard points = RM2 Clubcard Discount Vouchers |
| Earn Points | Shop at Tesco in-store, Tesco e-shop and Tesco food court Use Tesco RHB credit card & earn 2x Clubcard points Use Tesco RHB debit card & earn 3x Clubcard points Reuse Tesco green bag and earn 4 Clubcard points Reuse any green bag and earn 2 Clubcard points |
| Benefits | Store a maximum of RM1,500 at any one time in the Clubcard. ClubCard points converted into Clubcard Discount Vouchers and sent together with Clubcard Statement 3 times a year. Inherit ClubCard points from deceased family members. No reload fee charged for ClubCard. Cashless payment at Tesco stores and participating Touch ’n Go merchants. Receive Clubcard Discount Coupons. Enjoy privileges and discounts with selected merchants. Convert points to cash vouchers. Use ClubCard also at toll booths, LRT, KTM, KL Monorail, RapidKL, selected shopping/business complexes & other participating Touch ’n Go merchants. |
| Points Validity Period | Clubcard is a lifetime membership If there are no transactions for 12 months, the Touch ’n Go feature will be inactivated. The Touch ’n Go feature will expire after 10 years. Get a replacement card 3 months in advance. Clubcard Discount Vouchers validity: 1 year Clubcard Discount Coupons validity: 8 weeks |
Tesco Clubcard Touch ’n Go allows you to quickly collect points in various ways. For example, if you made a purchase of RM300 using your debit card and used six Tesco green bags, you will be able to earn points of up to 924 points. This amount already earned you RM4 discount vouchers. In short, with less money, you are able to stretch it to obtain more points – which in turn gives you savings because you need to spend RM924 to get these points.
Similarly, a RM1 discount voucher (minimum denomination for discount voucher is RM10) will require 200 Clubcard points, which is RM200 spent. And the best part? You don’t need to pay to renew your membership!
You actually get to consolidate all your groceries expenses, loyalty rewards and other expenses into one card. You can let go or reduce the need to have different cards for different needs.
Compared to the other hypermarkets, Tesco Clubcard Touch ’n Go holds a shorter expiry date for its vouchers and coupons at one year and eight weeks respectively.
Pair your Tesco Clubcard with the right credit card to optimise your points. RHB Tesco Credit Card lets you earn 2x Clubcard points every time you shop at Tesco!
3. MYDIN
| Card Name | Meriah Card |
| Card Fee | Meriah Card Registration & Renewal: RM12 per year (for 18 years old & above only) Supplementary Meriah Card: RM6 per year (for 13 years old – 17 years old) |
| Earn Points | Shop at Mydin Hypermarket, Emporium & MyMydin Outlets |
| Reward Points | RM1 = 1 Meriah point 2,000 Meriah points = RM10 gift voucher |
| Benefits | Meriah points can be exchanged for selected in-store redemption items. Obtain Meriah Mania Coupons that provide special discount on selected items. Transfer Meriah points of a deceased member to another account. Redeem birthday gift for a loved one using Meriah points accumulated. Get supplementary cards for your loved ones to combine Meriah points to redeem higher value gifts. Joint loyalty with selected cards e.g. Pension Card, OKU Card, 1Malaysia Privilege Card Use your card at selected merchants to enjoy discounts. Convert your Meriah points to AirAsia BIG Points: 1,000 Meriah Points = 250 BIG Points |
| Points Validity Period | Three years Card needs to be renewed annually. Renew card within 3 months after expiry date to avoid reward points being zerorised. |
One of the prominent advantage with the Meriah card is that you can use the Meriah points you collected to redeem AirAsia BIG Points. At the same time, you can apply for a supplementary Meriah card for your kids of 13 to 17 years old and collect more Meriah points.
The Meriah card requires you to spend RM2,000 to redeem RM10 voucher, which makes every RM1 redeemed worth RM200 spent (200 points).
One of the significant disadvantages with the Meriah card is although the expiry date of the points is three years, you will need to go through the hassle of renewing the card annually at a fee of RM12 for the normal card and RM6 for the supplementary card. Also, besides shopping at Mydin Hypermarket, Emporium & MyMydin Outlets, you do not have any other outlets to collect Meriah points. This can push you to make large purchases if you are into collecting points. It also depends on where you are located, as Mydin outlets can only be found in selected areas.
4. AEON BiG
| Card Name | AEON BiG member card |
| Card Fee | None |
| Reward Points | RM1 = 1 AEON BiG Point |
| Earn Points | 1 AEON BiG Point for every RM1 spent at AEON BiG stores or participating external merchants. 50 AEON BiG Eco points when using AEON BiG recycle bag on Saturdays. 5X AEON BiG Point when booking your vacation hotel stay through Agoda.com (promotion valid till March 13, 2017). |
| Benefits | Points for Redemption: 1,000 AEON BiG Points = RM5 cash rebate (this is redeemable only after 24 hours of the last purchase). Special member price for items purchased at AEON BiG stores or participating external merchants. |
| Points Validity Period | Points will expire on December 31 of the next calendar year from the last usage of the card. |
AEON BiG member card allows you to earn BiG points in three ways – purchasing at AEON BiG, using AEON BiG recycle bag and booking your vacation hotel stay through Agoda.com.
Sign up for the membership is also free. You are only required to complete the AEON BiG member card form and present your MyKad or passport upon signing up. This card is open to both Malaysians and Singaporeans, age 18 years and above. As there is no validity period for AEON BiG member card, you do not need to worry about renewing the card or paying renewal fees, like other loyalty cards.
Every now and then, AEON BiG allow its members to enjoy various discounts and promotions. The current promotion now is the ability to earn 5X AEON BiG Point when booking your vacation hotel stay through Agoda.com, which is valid till March 13, 2017.
In terms of earning points, AEON BiG card will allow you to collect points much quicker. You not only accumulate points when you shop at AEON stores, you are also able to collect 5x points when you use the same card to make your hotel bookings online via Agoda.com. Thus, you can accumulating more points in shorter time.
Assuming the following, here’s how much points you can collect in a year:
| Assumption | Annual | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly grocery bill = RM600 | RM600 X 12 = RM5,000 | 5,000 |
| Shop on Saturdays once a month | 50 points x 12 = 600 | 600 |
| Travel twice a year | RM3,000 x 2 = RM6,000 | 6,000 |
| Total Points | 11,600 | |
However, purchase of AEON BiG gift card, AEON BiG gift card top up, mobile top-up, tobacco related products and any other product purchased outside AEON BiG stores will not be given points.
And the biggest setback here, is the benefits are pretty much limited, comparatively.
You can only use the AEON BiG member card for redemption of cash rebates, and special member price when you shop at AEON stores. While other cards offer discounts with participating partners and other privileges, such as free parking and converting points to air miles.
Our verdict
So, which is the best card?
Tesco Clubcard is the winner when it comes to groceries loyalty card. This card allows you to quickly collect points from various ways and you can redeem these points to enjoy various special discounts and promotions. When it comes to conversion rate for the points, all the above cards have the same rate, which is RM200 spent to redeem RM1 voucher.
However, what makes the Tesco Clubcard better than the rest is its flexibility in point collection. If you make a RM300 purchase in other hypermarkets, you will only be able to collect 300 points. However, with the Tesco ClubCard, you can earn up to 900 points or more when you purchase with a credit or debit card and shop with green bags.
To really know if a particular hypermarket’s loyalty card is worth getting or not, you have to consider how frequently you visit the store. If you don’t really shop there regularly, then you’re better off without a card. However, if you do shop at that store often, then get yourself a loyalty card to enjoy discounts with everything you buy. However, if you’re looking for added points, you can get one of these top four shopping credit cards and smile your way to greater discounts and savings!
Still confused over which credit card you should get? Let us help you!
This article was first published on 23 September 2015. AEON BiG portions are updated as of 19 August 2016.
