I’ve written a lot about store loyalty cards recently as a way to save money on your supermarket shop. One I haven’t really bothered with until recently though is the Boots Advantage Card. OK, it’s not a supermarket loyalty scheme, but it’s still a loyalty scheme…
I’ve personally never been that interested as I don’t shop there as much as the supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsburys’ and Morrisons.
That being said, I do occasionally venture into Boots. I did recently, to pick up a last-minute birthday gift, which prompted me to try out the Advantage Card and see if Boots Points are worth bothering with….
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- What is the Boots Advantage Card?
- How Much are Boots Points Worth?
- How to Collect Boots Points
- How to Collect Boots Points in-store
- How to Collect Boots Points Online
- Collect Points with the Boots App
- Use Boots Points Events to Boost Your Points
- Advantage Card Emails
- Boots Clubs
- How do I Spend my Boots Points?
- How to Spend Boots Points in-store
- How to Spend Boots Points Online
- Summing Up
- Frequently Asked Questions
- How Do I Redeem / Spend Boots Points?
- Can I use the Boots App to collect points?
- Can I add points to my Boots Card from a receipt?
- How do I check my Boots Advantage card points?
- Can you pay with Boots points online?
What is the Boots Advantage Card?
The Boots Advantage Card launched in 1997 and now has over 16.4 million cardholders. This makes it the largest smart card retail loyalty scheme in the world and the third-largest retail loyalty card in the UK in terms of cards issued.
How Much are Boots Points Worth?
First off, as with all loyalty schemes, I expect you’re wondering how much Boots Points are worth? I know I was. Well, this is where I was pleasantly surprised.
The Boots Points system works in a similar way to Nectar points and Morrisons More points. Basically, you collect points for every pound you spend which then have a value.
Amazingly though, the Boots Advantage Scheme is probably the most generous I’ve come across.
You earn 4 points for every 1 you spend, with 1 point being worth 1p. So, 100 Boots points are worth £1 and 1000 points worth 10, and so on.
That’s a 4% cashback or discount rate, depending on how you look at it.
If you don’t want to faff about working it out though, you can use the handy Boots points calculator below to work out your points value.
Find out how much your Boots Points are worth using the Calculator below.How Many Boots Points Do You Have?Boots Points Value in
However, the number of points collected can vary, e.g. for Boots Opticians and Boots Hearingcare, you will collect one point for every 1 spent.
How to Collect Boots Points
So, the big question is, do you get Boots points on everything you buy?
Well, there are some exclusions. You can’t earn points on
- NHS prescriptions
- Private prescriptions (excluding those associated with a pharmacy service and selected dispensary items)
- Infant milks up to 6 months
- Gift cards
- Plastic carrier bags
- Boots Insurance and Travel services
- Professional discount cards
- Gift boxes
- Charitable merchandise
- Delivery charges for online orders
- You also can’t collect points on gift cards except during special promotional events
So let’s take a look at the nuts and bolts of how you collect your points.
How to Collect Boots Points in-store
Simply hand your card over to the cashier who will scan it and allocate the points to your account.
If you’re still waiting for your permanent card and you can either use the temporary paper card from your in-store application form or a print-out of the barcode if you signed up online.
If you don’t have either of these, you can ask for your receipt to be validated so you can add the points to your Advantage card within 30 days of the purchase.
How to Collect Boots Points Online
There are two ways to collect Boots points online. You can either:
Link your Boots Advantage Card to your account or
Fill in your Advantage Card Number manually at the checkout. You’ll have to do this every time you buy something though, so linking it will probably save a lot of time in the long run.
Collect Points with the Boots App
As with most loyalty schemes these days, the Boots Loyalty Scheme has an app too that lets you scan your Advantage Card using your phone.
Plus, when you download the Boots app and scan your Advantage card to link it, you can earn 200 Bonus points (worth 2) when you make any transaction in-store.
To access this offer you to click into the “My Offers” section of the app.
Then find the offer and click on the “Load” icon.
This then loads the offer to your Advantage card so when you next shop there you’ll get the points. There is an expiry date on this though which is something to bear in mind.
As well as this, I found another offer for 400 points when spending 20 or more in a single transaction. This is the equivalent to 4 back on a 20 spend (20%).
You can download the app on Google Play or the app store.
Use Boots Points Events to Boost Your Points
You can boost your points when Boots run points events, like the one they ran at the end of October. This gave Advantage cardholders an extra 1000 points which are worth 10, when they spent 50 in-store or 60 online
You can also get occasional triple points offers that you can find either on the app or online.
The offer above from a while back gave you 12 points for every 1 you spend so the equivalent for 12% back in points – Not bad at all!
These offers change all the time though and are often personalised, so it’s always best to check the “My Offers ” section of the app.
Advantage Card Emails
If you sign up for the Boots newsletter, you’ll get notified of Advantage Card offers as they go live. They usually send their newsletter with new offers weekly.
Boots Clubs
You can sign up for Boots Clubs to help boost your points too. There are currently two clubs available that give you extra offers and points.
Boots Parenting Club
The Boots Parenting Club is exclusively available to Advantage cardholders. So, if you’ve already got little ones or have a baby on the way it’s probably worth getting an Advantage Card just for this.
You do need children under 5 though to qualify for this (or be expecting a baby).
When you join you can get 10 points per 1 spent on Baby items, which is the equivalent to getting 10% back in points. You also get a free Child’s Farm gift when you join.
You also get Free gifts at key stages of your child’s development.
To get these offers though, you do need to download the Boots App and activate the Free Gift offer.
Over 60’s Rewards
If you’re over 60 you can join the Over 60’s Rewards Club. This scheme boosts your points when you shop at Boots to 10 points for every 1 you spend so it’s well worth having!
This does only apply to Boots branded products and certain exclusive brands though. The brands that you’ll get boosted points on are:
- No. 7
- Boots Pharmaceuticals
- Boots Soltan
- Botanics
- Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel
- Natural Collection
They also run Over 60s Rewards events periodically – the last one way in June and was for one day only (20th).
The offer was 5 worth of points when spending 30 or more in-store as well as a free No.7 gift when visiting a participating store.
How do I Spend my Boots Points?
Now spending Boots points has always been a bit of a bugbear for me. Why? Well, it’s their “no part-pay” policy.
“You cannot part-pay with Boots Advantage Card points, so you’ll need the full amount of points for the product you choose. For example, 199 points will pay for a product priced at £1.99. The total price in points will then be deducted from your Boots Advantage Card balance.”
Being someone who doesn’t visit boots that often, the amount of points I racked up has always been fairly limited.
When I do shop in Boots it tends to be for Birthday and Christmas presents, so I’m often buying bottles of perfume or aftershave which are quite pricey. Due to Boot’s policy on spending points I hardly ever have enough to redeem them…
This is a big drawback of the scheme for me. So, the points you get are generous, but spending them if you’re not a frequent Boots shopper can be a bit of a pain to be honest.
But, if you do have enough points to cover the full value of whatever your buying here’s how you spend them.
How to Spend Boots Points in-store
Spending points in-store is pretty straightforward. You just need to hand your card over to the cashier and tell them you want to pay with your points.
Remember though, you can’t part-pay, so you’ll need to have enough points on your account to cover the cost of whatever you’re buying. If you’re not sure how many points you’ve got you can ask the cashier to swipe the card and give you your balance.
How to Spend Boots Points Online
To spend your points online at boots.com you’ll need to have a permanent card, and have it ran at the end of October.
Then to pay with your points you need to select the Boots Advantage Card Icon on the checkout screen.
Again, you’ll need to have enough points on your card to cover the total cost of your purchase.
Summing Up
All in all, the Boots Advantage Card offers one of the most generous store loyalty schemes. 4p worth of points for every 1 you spend puts the supermarket schemes to shame.
Plus, the triple points events and bonus points available to the Parenting and Over 60’s club members make it a very strong offering.
Where the Boots scheme falls down though is the frustrating “no part-pay” policy. I don’t know about you, but I find having to wait until I can redeem the full price of an item quite annoying and inflexible.
That being said, I’m not a huge Boots shopper so for more regular shoppers this might not be as much of an issue.
Do you love the Boots Advantage scheme, or do you find the part-pay policy as annoying as I do? I’d love to hear in the comments below.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Redeem / Spend Boots Points?
To redeem your points, you need to have enough points on your card to cover the total cost of the item you’re buying. You can redeem in-store by presenting your card to the cashier and letting them know you want to pay using your points. You spend your points online you’ll either need to link your Advantage Card to your boots.com account or manually enter your card number at the checkout.
Can I use the Boots App to collect points?
Yes, with the new Boots App you can scan your Advantage card details directly from your phone. So even if you forget your physical card, as long as you’ve got your phone with the app installed you can still collect your points.
Can I add points to my Boots Card from a receipt?
Yes. If you forget your card when you shop at Boots, ask the cashier to validate your receipt. Once your receipt is validated you can take it to any Boots store within 30 days to get the points transferred onto your Advantage Card.
How do I check my Boots Advantage card points?
To see how many Boots Advantage points you have simply log onto your account online where the points balance will be displayed in the top right-hand corner. Or log into the app, and your points balance and value in pounds will be displayed on the first screen.
Alternatively, if you can ask a cashier to swipe your card in-store to give you your balance.
Can you pay with Boots points online?
Yes, you can pay with Boots points online as long as you have enough points to cover the total cost of the order.
