Photo courtesy Mediamodifier on Pixabay.
Grocery is an essential part of the household expense and we can’t defer the purchase of groceries for a long time, unlike other items. They form a good part of the monthly budget and for survival, people need food items. The only thing people can do to reduce food expenses is to purchase groceries at a cheaper rate like buying in bulk, shopping on certain days when they are available at a lower rate, or buying food that is available according to the season. There are certain cards that provide value on the grocery purchased in the form of cashback, rewards, or discounts. If we compare a few years back we will find that food prices are always going up so little savings in prices are always desirable and helpful to keep the household budget under control. We can use credit cards for the grocery shopping and they are helpful in a number of ways-
Convenient to carry-
A credit card is more convenient to carry than a wad of notes in your wallet. Sometimes while shopping you will realize that you have not brought enough cash or you have made so many purchases that you fall short of cash on the payment counter. This can be embarrassing when you have to remove some of the goods from your purchase. The credit card will provide you with enough buying power and ensure that you can get the groceries when you require them.
Reward Points-
The reward credit cards provide reward points for making purchases and many credit cards include groceries in the list, eligible for cashback rewards. These rewards could be in the form of cashback or points eligible for many products or services.
Easy to track the money spent-
If you are not good at keeping records it will become difficult to keep track of how much money you have spent on groceries. The credit card statement will give in detail how much money you have spent, and where you have spent, making it easy to account for the grocery purchases. The other way you can track is by online access provided by credit cards.
Builds credit score-
When you purchase groceries through a credit card and make all the payments on time you build a good payment history and this helps you in building a good credit score. This will make you an attractive option for financial institutions for higher-value credit cards.
Provides financial cushion-
If the amount of money in your bank is low and you wish to purchase groceries, you can always use the card for making payments and pay back when you receive your salary cheque or the amount due to your business.
How to choose the right credit card?
For getting the best credit card you should have a good CIBIL score. The next thing you have to consider is whether you love to shop in-store or online. If you shop most of the things in a store then check for a card that gives more discounts for the retailer, otherwise, a credit card that provides advantages across many retailers would be suitable. If you prefer shopping online then check for a card with low fees, minimum APR, and the best cash-back rewards for online purchases.
The best cards for grocery shopping are as follows:
1) SimplySave SBI Credit Card-
Joining Fees: Rs 499 + Taxes.
Renewal Fees: Rs 499 (reversed on Rs 1 Lakh Spends in the previous year)
The SimplySave SBI Card is one of the best cards for grocery purchases. It offers attractive cashback and reward points and some of the key features and benefits are-
- The customers get to enjoy 10X Reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on grocery purchases and in addition, there are reward points for movies and dining.
- They get Rs.100 cash back as a welcome gift on the first cash withdrawal from the ATM within 30 days of receiving the card.
- On other spends, customers earn 1 reward point for every Rs. 150 spent ( Four reward points are equal to Rs. 1).
- When customers spend Rs. 1, 00,000 or more on their SimplySave credit card they can avail of an annual membership fee reversal from the second year.
- When people spend Rs. 2000 or more in the first 60 days they get 2000 bonus reward points.
- The card holders can avail of supplementary credit cards for their family members over the age of 18 years.
- The cardholders can pay their electricity, telephone, and mobile bills using the Easy bill pay facility of the SimplySave SBI card.
- The online booking of railway tickets can also be done through this credit card.
- It has worldwide acceptance. It can be used in over 24 million outlets across the globe.
- There is a balance transfer on EMI. A person can transfer the outstanding balance of other bank credit cards to a SimplySave SBI card and avail of a lower rate of interest.
- In the Flexipay facility, you can convert your transactions to easy monthly installments.
2) HDFC Bank Solitaire Credit Card
The HDFC Bank Solitaire Credit Card provides savings not only on your grocery shopping but also offers many deals on your travel and dining spending.
Annual fee: Rs 500 + GST.
Spend Rs 50,000 in a year and get a waiver on next year’s annual fee.
Some of the benefits of using this credit card are-
- Customers can get 50% more reward points on grocery and dining spending.
- The welcome benefit is the one-time free wellness package from Thyrocare.
- The customers can get a shopping voucher of Rs 1000 from Shoppers Stop on cumulative spends of Rs. 75,000 every six months.
- They get 3 reward points for every Rs 150 spent.
- As renewal benefits from 2nd year onwards customers get 100 reward points that can be spent on groceries.
- If you spend Rs. 5000 in a year on fuel, this card will help you save Rs 1500.
- Customers can also get air miles on this card and can redeem these miles for free air tickets.
3) Standard Chartered Manhattan Platinum Credit Card-
Joining Fee- Rs. 999+ GST
Renewal Fee- Rs. 999+GST
The Standard Chartered Manhattan Platinum Credit Card is suited for those people who make big purchases at supermarkets. There are many other offers on movies, dining, and travel. The key features are-
- 5% cash back on all grocery spends at supermarkets and departmental stores.
- 5000 reward points on payment of joining fees.
- 3 reward points for Rs. 150 spend at all other places.
- Supplementary credit card for family members.
- BookMyShow vouchers worth Rs. 2000 at activation. 25% off on INOX movie tickets and food and beverages.
- Annual fees reversal on meeting Rs. 1,20,000 spent.
- Get a loan on your credit card up to Rs 5 lakhs with flexible tenure from 12 to 60 months.
4) ICICI Bank Coral Contactless Credit Card-
The cardholders of ICICI Bank Coral Contactless Credit Card can avail of cash rewards, discounts on supermarket and grocery store spending, and free movie tickets. The main features of this card are-
- A joining fee of Rs. 500 plus service tax is applicable and from the second year to an annual fee of Rs. 500 plus service tax; which is waived off if you spend Rs. 1.5 lakh in the previous year.
- Customers can use this card to get 2X reward points when they purchase groceries and other things in the departmental stores.
- Due to the contactless MasterCard technology secure and quick payments can be made at retail outlets.
- There is 1 complimentary access per quarter to select airport lounges in India by spending a minimum of Rs 5000 in a quarter on the card.
- Up to 10,000 payback points can be earned from ICICI Bank rewards every anniversary year.
- A 25% discount can be availed up to Rs. 100 purchase of a minimum of 2 tickets per transaction on BookMy Show and Inox. It can be availed twice a month.
- At around 2100 restaurants across India, individuals can save a minimum of 15% on dining bills through the ICICI Bank Culinary Treats program.
5) Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card-
There is no annual or joining fee for this credit card. The other features of this credit card are-
- Reward earnings can be used for purchasing over 10 crore products from Amazon. in and at more than 100 merchant partners.
- There is no expiry date on the rewards earned using this card.
- 5% cashback on transactions at Amazon. in for Amazon Prime members*.
- 3% cashback on transactions at Amazon. in for customers who are not Amazon Prime members*.
- 2% cashback on transactions at over 100 Amazon Pay merchant partners on using this card on Amazon Pay*.
- 1% cash back on all the other payments.
- Enjoy 15% savings on dining bills at over 2500 restaurants across India.
- Get a waiver of 1% on fuel surcharge payments every time you refuel.
*Terms and conditions apply.
6) SBI SimplyClick Credit Card-
Annual Fee- Rs.499+taxes
Renewal fee- Rs 499+taxes
The key features and benefits of this card are-
- Get an Amazon gift card worth Rs 500 on joining.
- Customers can get 10X reward points on online spending with exclusive partners like Amazon, BookMyShow, Cleartrip, Lenskart, Netmeds, Apollo24x7, and EazyDiner( Grocery, dining, departmental stores, and movie spends).
- Earn 5X reward points on all other online spendings.
- Get an e-voucher worth Rs 2000 on annual online spending of Rs.1 Lakh and Rs. 2 lakh each.
- Get a 1% fuel surcharge waiver for each transaction between Rs 500 and Rs 3000.
- Annual fee reversal on spending Rs 1 Lakh.
- Contactless technology.
- Worldwide acceptance in over 24 million outlets across the globe.
- Electricity, telephone, and mobile bills can be paid through the Easy Pay Bill facility of this card.
- There is a balance transfer on EMI. A person can transfer the outstanding balance of other bank credit cards to a SimplySave SBI card and avail of a lower rate of interest.
Over the years it is observed that the price of grocery items always rises and the reward points or the cashback we get through the grocery credit card always helps us to save money. The various rewards points and gifts offered; whether purchasing groceries online or in the supermarkets, always help us in reducing our monthly budget and we can select the grocery credit card according to our needs to derive maximum benefits.