Couponing in South Africa

Do we have coupons?

Couponing is big business in the USA, reality shows abound on this topic. Here in South Africa though, we don’t really have coupons.

Years ago we got coupons in our subscription magazines and the weekly local papers. Those days are gone.

Except for PnP VIP vouchers for senior citizens (only available for use in Hypermarkets) most South African coupons are in the form of an app or a loyalty card and they can save you a lot of money when used correctly.

Do you know what is out there? Are you using it effectively?

The first one under the spot light is:

PnP Smart Shopper card.

If you don’t have one, I suggest getting it. Whether or not you like PicknPay the card is worth it.  You earn points which can be converted to cash, there are discounts and often in their brand match campaign, when you swipe your card, at the end of the till slip either has the message ‘you saved ….  on this purchase or ‘get R… off of your next shopping”. I got a slip once that said I had R84.50 off of my next shop.

Often they will have items for sale where you earn extra points when you swipe your card.

You get vouchers when you swipe your card at different times if the year, these are specific to your spending habits. You get extra points to use during your birthday month.

Earn points and to use for shopping or even travel. I like to accumulate my points for a year and then use them for my grocery shop, I often land up only having to pay half my bill and sometimes even less. The points expire after a year.

A big plus for me is the Fresh living magazine which you get free with your first purchase of the month, if you have a smart shopper card. I have found and made some amazing recipes in the magazine.

 Woolworths

The Woolworths store card which you can only use at a Woolworths store also gives great discounts, however, it works like a credit card and you are charged interest on your balance.

In the instance of the Woolworths credit card these each have different quarterly discounts depending on the colour of your card, you also get a % back for using the card at other stores. You also get a voucher for a free “Taste” magazine (on the black card). These are credit cards and can be used anywhere.

Spar loyalty

Spar has two options, a loyalty card, which can only be used at the Spar that issued the card and the Spar rewards program, which you need to sign up for on your pc and gives you rewards just for signing up, plus vouchers that you can use at participating stores, you also link your loyalty card to the rewards program and earn more points. Then download the app to your smartphone. You will receive your vouchers on your smartphone; you type the voucher number into the keypad at the till to redeem your rewards.

Checkers

The Checkers Eezee coupons app for your smart phone allows you to ‘book’ your specials and when you get to the till you type in the voucher number that the app generates and it will give you your discounts.  I have once been able to buy a product with the app and combined it with another coupon app and landed up pay R5 instead of R65 for my item.

Clicks Club Card and Dischem

While neither of these are grocery stores, a lot of us do our shopping for toiletries at these stores. Their loyalty cards do offer great savings and bonuses. You can download the app and order online to be delivered to a store near you.

Bank Cards

When using banks cards together with loyalty cards you once again increase your savings.

Unilever deals Wuhu

The Unilever deals WUHU site is accessed from your computer. They have very good discount “coupons”, either two for one or often between 25%-50% off. I once spent R5 on Omo washing powder as it was on special at the store, plus I had the Unilever code.

SnapnSave

An app that allows you to ‘book’ specials on your phone. Once you are done shopping, you upload a picture if your full till slip, then gives you money back in their virtual wallet that you can use at one of many partner stores.

I am sure there are some that I have missed.

How are you using apps and loyalty cards to save you money? Did you even know we had so many?

Here is a short video on how to begin using your apps effectively. https://youtu.be/L_t29kGtYj4

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