Garden centre retailer Wyevale has changed its loyalty scheme to replace points with an instant discount every time a member shops with it.

The new scheme will represent the same value for the customer who will instead receive an instant 5% discount at the checkout rather than receiving five loyalty points per £1 spent.

Customers over 60 will also receive a 10% discount every Tuesday.

All purchases made up to April 16 will be converted to reward vouchers and sent to customers by the end of May.

The retailer is expected to send around 1 million rewards vouchers worth nearly £5m, including 560,000 vouchers to Wyevale Garden Club (WGC) members who have not reached the minimum threshold but have been “topped up” and sent a £2.50 voucher.

The changes have been put in place in time for the Easter weekend.

Wyevale chief operating officer Anthony Jones said: “I am sure our Garden Club members will welcome the new 5% discount and we are already seeing footfall building ahead of the Easter bank holiday weekend.”

Separately, the garden centre chain announced it will stop selling WGC-branded gift cards to focus on National Garden gift voucher – a nationwide voucher scheme that can be used in most garden centres, with the aim to encourage gardening and promote gardening good causes.

The Wyevale gift cards will continue to be redeemable in all Wyevale garden centres including the 31 recently sold to Dobbies.

“With a smaller estate and therefore reduced national coverage, we have stopped selling WGC-branded gift cards to focus on National Garden gift vouchers. Accepted by over 1,000 garden centres, including all of our centres, we believe this is the right thing to do for our customers,” Jones added.