Supermarkets in Norway: What are the best loyalty schemes?

Grocery shopping in Norway is amongst the most expensive in Europe. Luckily, there are plenty of generous bonus schemes to help you get more bang for your buck when you hit the shops. Here’s everything you need to know to make the most of loyalty cards.

Published: 20 April 2021 11:56 CEST
Updated: 15 February 2022 15:18 CET

Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

Æ-Rema 1000

Rema 1000 opened its first store in Trondheim in 1979 and has become one of Norway’s largest supermarket chains.

Rema’s loyalty scheme is a smartphone app that anyone over the age of 15 with a Norwegian mobile number and a smartphone can use.

Unfortunately, the app isn’t available in English, so you best practice your Norwegian if you are going to capitalise on the savings on offer.

On the bright side, the discounts you receive are well worth it, especially if you have young children, as the app offers a 25 percent discount on all nappies (or diapers for the non-Brits reading).

In addition to this, you receive 10 percent off all fresh fruit and vegetables and 10 percent off of your 10 most frequently bought items, meaning you can save money on the things you buy the most.

You can also sign up for their personal price cut scheme, whereby you receive tailor-made promotions. However, you must first approve this in the app under your profile.

To get these discounts, you must have the app and scan your personal barcode at the checkout or register a bank card in the app.

The app is available on both Apple and Google Play stores.

Trumf- Kiwi/Meny/Joker/Spar

Trumf covers three supermarket chains in Norway as well as convenience-store-cum-supermarket Joker.

With Trumf you get cashback, or a “Trumf bonus”, every time you shop. The Trumf bonus/cashback is deposited straight into your Trumf account after making a purchase with a card linked to your Trumf account.

Alternatively, you can present your unique barcode via the app at checkout.

To become a Trumf member, you will need to have a Norwegian phone number and bank account. You will then need to link a debit card to your account.

One perk of Trumf is you can also invite somebody to form a joint Trumf account. This means that you can create a joint pot with your partner, for example.

All the supermarkets affiliated with Trumf offer a one percent bonus on shopping. This equates to roughly one percent cashback value of the items you buy.

On certain days, usually Thursday’s, Triple Trumf is activated, which means 3 percent back on all purchases; you’ll typically receive a heads up via text or email so you can plan a big shop to make the most of Triple Trumf.

Here is an overview of how the bonus points work for each store:

KIWI:

One percent back on all groceries
Three percent back on Triple Trumf
15 percent back on all fresh fruit, vegetables, and freshly packaged fish

Spar:

One percent back on all groceries
Three percent back on Triple Trumf
Free coupons on selected products
25 percent discount on all baby food and nappies

Meny:

One percent back on all groceries
Three percent back on Triple Trumf
Personal offer coupons

Joker:

One percent back on all groceries
Three percent back on Triple Trumf
Five percent back Monday

It isn’t just groceries either, Trumf can be used on everything from fuel to fashion. You can download the app on both Apple and Android.

The biggest advantage of Trumf is the freedom of deciding how to use your Trumf bonus.

You can choose to receive the cashback directly into your bank account, have the money deducted off of the total next time you shop at your chosen store, convert it to SAS EuroBonus points for your next trip away, or make a charitable donation.

Like Æ, you’ll have to brush up on your Norwegian to make the most of the app.

Coop

To access Coop’s loyalty discounts, you’ll have to become a member and part-owner of the business. The big drawback to this is that to become a member you’ll have to pay 300 kroner to become a part-owner.

However, once you’re a member, it’s worth the initial outlay.

To begin with you will get a one percent purchase dividend, in the form of cashback, on everything you purchase. The dividend is automatically credited to your member account and you can earn a small amount of interest on it.The dividends are transferred into your account once a year.

As a member, you’ll also get exclusive access to special deals on well-known brands. The discounts cover everything from thermals to kitchenware and electronics.

In addition to this, you’ll get discount vouchers for frequently bought items.

To sign up, you’ll need a Norwegian phone number and D-number. To use your membership, you can use a mobile phone app at the checkout or with a physical membership card.

One problem is that while there are many discounts and dividends opportunities to take advantage of, it can be confusing to know what perk can be used where, as Coop divides its deals up between its Mega, Extra, and Prix stores. Thankfully, we’ve taken care of that for you with this guide for what benefit applies where:

Extra: 20 percent dividend on baby products and 11 dividend on fruit and vegetables
PRIX: 25 percent discount on all men’s products
MEGA: 20 percent dividend on organic food and vegetarian food.

There’s also a one kroner bonus every time you reuse a Coop bag at stores.

Own an electric car? There’ll be eight percent dividend if you use Mer charging stations.

If you’re still on fuel power to get you from A-to-B, then there are also bonuses for filling up with Circle K or YX.

This year Coop paid out 1.3 billion kroner worth of dividends to its members based on how much they spent in-store in 2020.

You can use the Coop app on either Apple or Android.