The retailer reaches more than 20m households via its Clubcard loyalty card scheme, but has a digitisation strategy to drive customers towards using its Tesco Grocery & Clubcard app, which includes customer vouchers.

It has 9m users of the Tesco Clubcard app, and the PLC believes it can build “deeper relationships with more customers” through the digitisation of Clubcard.

The £58.8bn turnover retailer has contacted customers over the past week to explain the changes.

“We just wanted to let you know that we’re going to start sending you your Clubcard statements by email rather than by post, to help save paper. So that’s how you’ll receive your May statement,” the retailer stated in a an email to customers.

Customers need to sign in to their Clubcard accounts and choose  ‘by post’ if they prefer to continue receiving quarterly paper statements.

The Clubcard statements are a sophisticated data-driven print product and include personalised offer vouchers. The quarterly statements are printed by Go Inspire Group.

CEO Patrick Headley said that he would be “very, very surprised” if the printed statement fell by the wayside altogether, despite the obvious print and paper costs involved in producing the job. 

“You have to look at the trade that it generates. A voucher or a coupon is such a huge driver in getting people in-store – people respond so well to the statement,” he said.