Sainsbury’s is to reward customers for doing their Christmas shopping early as it seeks to avoid a last-minute festive rush.

Members of the supermarket giant’s Nectar scheme will be able to claim vouchers worth double the usual value of their points, up to a total of £100, during November. 

Nectar users can exchange their points for a Sainsbury’s Double Up Voucher, which can be spent in stores between November 11 and 17 – ahead of the peak Black Friday and Christmas weekends. 

Shoppers will be able to spend the vouchers across a host of categories including Tu clothing, electricals, entertainment, homewares and cosmetics.  

The grocer ran a similar promotion last year, but its return for 2020 comes as retailers bid to pull forward Christmas spending and avoid a late rush in stores amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis. 

The British Retail Consortium has launched its ‘Shop early, start wrapping, enjoy Christmas’ campaign, urging consumers to start shopping earlier this year. 

It said doing so would help give fellow shoppers, storeworkers, warehouse staff and delivery drivers “the space they need to stay safe and well” during the pandemic.

Businesses are also launching their own efforts to try to flatten the usual Black Friday and Christmas trading peaks.

Amazon has already launched a string of Black Friday deals, one month before the date itself, across key festive categories including toys, mobile phones and beauty. 

The etailer, which only ran its delayed Prime Day promotional event earlier this month, will offer lightning deals and ‘deal-of-the-day’ discounts until November 27.

Other retailers are also expected to prolong their usual Black Friday promotions in a similar way. 

Sainsbury’s loyalty marketing manager Jimmy Galloway said: “We know that this year, more than ever, our customers are looking to make their money go further and find little ways to help with the cost of Christmas.

“We are delighted to announce that [the Double Up Voucher scheme] is returning again this year and are glad to help out those customers who are looking to get a head start on their shopping.”

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