Sainsbury’s Great Big Fruit and Veg Challenge returns to Nectar app | News

Sainsbury’s ‘The Great Big Fruit and Veg Challenge’, which rewards shoppers for eating their 5 a day, returned to the Nectar app this week.

The month-long initiative lets customers amass bonus Nectar points for buying fruit and vegetables at the supermarket, which can then be spent at Sainsbury’s, Argos and Habitat. The rules are applicable to both online and in-store shopping.

Participants can set personalised targets for their grocery lists from 1 June through to 28 June, and each person can potentially rack up over 750 points by the end of the challenge.

The app keeps track of a customer’s average weekly number of fruit and vegetable portions and rewards them with points once a milestone is reached.

“As a supermarket serving communities across the country, we have a responsibility to encourage our customers to eat delicious food that is healthier for people and better for the planet, and the challenge is one of the many ways we are doing this,” said Sainsbury’s chief marketing officer Mark Given.

“We hope that by participating in the challenge, customers are inspired to pack in more nutritious food, while getting more out of their points balance,” he added.

The move is part of the retailer’s ‘Help Everyone Eat Better’ scheme, which aims to encourage customers to eat more in line with the government’s Eatwell Guide by helping shift consumer behaviour towards healthier and more sustainable options.

Participants will receive recipe ideas, food waste tips and sustainability-related research information via their Nectar app. In addition, they will also be able to collect up to eight product badges by buying specific fruit and vegetables, such as strawberries and tomatoes, which can be turned into additional bonus points.

Last year, over 450,000 customers signed up for the challenge, which saw about 52.5 million portions of vegetables and fruit purchased by the participants during a four-week period.