Virgin Points for Percy Pigs? M&S and Virgin Red's New Partnership Explained
- Sam
- 33 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Yes, you read that right. We're writing about Marks & Spencer's loyalty programme. Bear with us.
M&S has just relaunched Sparks, and ordinarily that would not be something we'd cover on a site about miles and points. But the revamp comes with a new partnership between Sparks and Virgin Red, and that bit is very much our territory.
What's changed with Sparks?
The original version of Sparks gave you points for shopping, but you couldn't spend them. Instead, you'd hit thresholds that unlocked perks like early access to the M&S sale (oooooo...). Most people found it confusing, and M&S admitted as much. In 2020 they scrapped points entirely and replaced them with a lottery system where you might randomly win your shopping for free, or get given a packet of Percy Pigs at the till.
In today's relaunch, M&S has introduced a digital Sparks wallet that earns cash to spend in-store. Spend £50 on fashion, home or beauty and you'll get £10 back in your wallet. Spend £35 in the Foodhall and that's £5. The money sits in your wallet and you can spend it across any M&S department whenever you want.
M&S says the offers will be personalised based on what you buy and any preferences you set (dietary requirements and so on), and that they'll get more relevant the more you shop. The existing perks like birthday treats, coffee stamps and the 1p charity donation per shop are sticking around.
To read more about the changes to Sparks, click here.
But none of that is especially relevant to us. This next bit is.
The Virgin Red tie-in
M&S has announced Virgin Red as the first ever Sparks partner.
They're highlighting that you can shop M&S online through Virgin Red and earn Virgin Points on your purchases, but you've always been able to do that through Virgin Shops Away ...
The more interesting angle is the other direction. If you link your Virgin Red and Sparks accounts in the M&S app, you unlock a set of Virgin offers that earn cash into your Sparks wallet. These will change over time, but currently include:
Up to £130 into your Sparks wallet when you book a Virgin Atlantic holiday
£80 when you switch to Virgin Media
£8 for every £100 spent on Virgin Voyages
£4 on every £20 spent on Virgin Experience Days
Essentially you're getting M&S store credit as cashback for booking Virgin products.
There is currently no option to earn anything for booking Virgin Atlantic flights alone.
Another thing, linking your accounts alone doesn't do anything. You have to start from the Sparks app, choose the offer, click through to Virgin's site and complete your purchase in the same browsing session. If you book directly with Virgin without going through Sparks first, you won't get the reward.
M&S says the partnership will see "more exciting benefits across both Sparks and Virgin Red over time." We'll see. What this needs is a way to transfer Virgin Points to Sparks, and convert your Sparks credit to Virgin Points.
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Spending Virgin Points at M&S
You can now spend your Virgin Points on a revolving range of M&S treats by exchanging your Virgin Points on the Virgin Red website for an M&S voucher for a particular item. The current rewards menu includes:
Percy Pigs for 100 points
Outrageously Chocolatey biscuits for 500 points
Luxury Gold Tea for 600 points
Collection Pizzas for 1,100 points
On The Move Smoothies for 350 points
Collection Ultra Thin Pizzas for 450 points
We've checked out the current prices on Ocado to see the value you're getting.
Item | RRP | Points | Value per point |
Percy Pigs | £2.00 | 100 | 2.0p |
Outrageously Chocolatey Biscuits | £6.50 | 500 | 1.3p |
Collection Ultra Thin Pizza | £4.00 | 450 | 0.9p |
On The Move Smoothies | £2.50 | 350 | 0.7p |
Collection Pizza | £6.50 | 1,100 | 0.6p |
Luxury Gold Tea | £3.20 | 600 | 0.5p |
Percy Pigs at 2p per point is outstanding, that's not far off what you'd get from a decent flight redemption. If you've ever wanted a Points Well Made-endorsed reason to eat Percy Pigs, this is it.
After that it gets a bit, meh. The biscuits are passable at 1.3p, but once you get down to the Collection Pizza and the tea bags you're at 0.5-0.6p per point. For context, we'd usually tell you to get at least 1p of value per Virgin Point when redeemed for flights, but you can stretch that past 4p on Upper Class bookings. Don't waste them on pizza or tea bags.
If I'm honest, I don't really see any of you bothering to go through the hassle of converting your Virgin Points, for a voucher, which you can then redeem for one of these items.
To read more about the Virgin Red and M&S partnership, click here.
Is any of this worth acting on?
The press release promises "much more to come for customers in the future," and M&S describes today's launch as "just the first stage." Lets hope that's true, because if the partnership develops into something where you can earn Virgin Points directly from M&S spending, or transfer Sparks wallet credit into Virgin Points, that would be worth paying attention to.
Sam
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