Nielsen Homescan Review
We reveal how much can you earn from working for Nielsen's Homescan program, who they're looking for and what's involved.
Updated 24 July 2024
As of July 2024, this program is on hold, but we will add joining instructions when it opens back up. For now, we suggest considering iSay.
Our guide covers:
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As of July 2024, this program is on hold, but we will add joining instructions when it opens back up. For now, we suggest considering iSay.
Our guide covers:
- How do I Join Nielsen Homescan?
- What Do I Get? How Much Can I Earn with Nielsen Homescan?
- Nielsen Homescan - Pros and Cons
Advertising Disclaimer - Our list below is comprised of trusted and reliable companies that help New Zealanders to make money online. MoneyHub may be paid if you click or sign up to an offer, but this does not influence the ordering or reporting below.
What is Nielsen Homescan?
Nielsen is a major international market research organisation. They invented the term “market research” to sell companies the idea of tracking how well their products are doing compared to competitors and continue to do so in various formats.
Nielsen Homescan tracks household shopping trends. It has been around for a long time and has evolved from a dedicated barcode scanner to smartphone apps and online shopping. Putting it simply, you enter your weekly purchases in the app, occasionally answer a survey on your shopping habits, and they reward you with points you can use to make purchases.
Nielsen Homescan tracks household shopping trends. It has been around for a long time and has evolved from a dedicated barcode scanner to smartphone apps and online shopping. Putting it simply, you enter your weekly purchases in the app, occasionally answer a survey on your shopping habits, and they reward you with points you can use to make purchases.
Is it safe?
According to the app's App Store privacy statement, it collects user content (that is, the information you enter in the app yourself), diagnostics and identifiers but does not link them to your identity. If that last part seems a bit confusing, it means that the data is not linked to your unique user ID, but you do tag purchases in the app to tell them who was shopping.
Although data gathering companies may sometimes misbehave, it is probable that they are not mining your phone for other information not related to the data they are gathering.
How much you value the privacy of your shopping basket and favourite stores is a question only you can answer.
Although data gathering companies may sometimes misbehave, it is probable that they are not mining your phone for other information not related to the data they are gathering.
How much you value the privacy of your shopping basket and favourite stores is a question only you can answer.
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How do I Join Nielsen Homescan?
Like other market research programs, Nielsen Homescan works by involving a broad range of people that are demographically representative of New Zealand society. This means that they may be looking for people in particular categories at any time – they may need young people, but not older people, for example, so they ask a lot of questions at the initial application. For example, they will want to know your age, gender, ethnicity, country of birth, relationship status, co-habiting family members, who is the primary grocery shopper in the family, where you prefer to shop, income, and other factors.
Does everybody get accepted?
As they are looking for specific categories of people, you may not match the kind of candidates they are looking for when you apply. This doesn't mean that you are completely out of luck, though. You will still be added to their list, and although they may initially reply that you did not meet their demographic requirements when someone else leaves the program, they may send you a message asking if you are still interested in joining.
If you make it this far, Nielsen will first call you to go through the program's requirements and their expectations and confirm that you are still willing to participate. If you agree, they will send you another questionnaire to refine their demographic details further, and after that, a final email with your credentials to register in the system.
If you make it this far, Nielsen will first call you to go through the program's requirements and their expectations and confirm that you are still willing to participate. If you agree, they will send you another questionnaire to refine their demographic details further, and after that, a final email with your credentials to register in the system.
How does it work, and what are the minimum requirements?
The requirements and process is as followed:
Once you are registered, you will be sent the details you need to download and install the NielsenIQ Consumer Panel app on your phone. Essentially, everything you need to do for Homescan is in the app.
The app provides a week-by-week view, showing your spending on each day. They are only interested in your normal spending, so there is an option to check if you are on holiday, and no entries will be made for the week.
The actual entry process depends on where you shop. For example, if you made your purchases at a supermarket or online, you take a photo of the receipt and then scan the barcodes of your purchases with your phone's camera.
Know This: If you prefer an independent butcher, local fruit and vegetable shop, or Asian or other speciality grocers, entry takes a bit more effort. You start by taking a photo of the receipt, but then you need to enter your barcode-less purchases manually. Next, they ask for the quantity, price, and whether it was on special. Entries can only be selected from the options that are already in the app, so if you're picking up spices and sauces from the Asian supermarket, they all just go under "cooking ingredients". There are also a few strange choices with fruit and vegetable entries – they want to know how many bananas or tomatoes you bought, for instance, rather than what the weight was.
Nielsen Homescan are looking for you to scan all household items – fresh produce, cleaning, health and beauty, and baby products, as well as food and items for pets - basically, everything you can buy at the supermarket.
- You must be 18 years or older
- You first fill out the online form and wait for a response
- Once received, you then install the app and scan your purchases
- Every time you do this, you earn points for scans, surveys and staying in the program
Once you are registered, you will be sent the details you need to download and install the NielsenIQ Consumer Panel app on your phone. Essentially, everything you need to do for Homescan is in the app.
The app provides a week-by-week view, showing your spending on each day. They are only interested in your normal spending, so there is an option to check if you are on holiday, and no entries will be made for the week.
The actual entry process depends on where you shop. For example, if you made your purchases at a supermarket or online, you take a photo of the receipt and then scan the barcodes of your purchases with your phone's camera.
Know This: If you prefer an independent butcher, local fruit and vegetable shop, or Asian or other speciality grocers, entry takes a bit more effort. You start by taking a photo of the receipt, but then you need to enter your barcode-less purchases manually. Next, they ask for the quantity, price, and whether it was on special. Entries can only be selected from the options that are already in the app, so if you're picking up spices and sauces from the Asian supermarket, they all just go under "cooking ingredients". There are also a few strange choices with fruit and vegetable entries – they want to know how many bananas or tomatoes you bought, for instance, rather than what the weight was.
Nielsen Homescan are looking for you to scan all household items – fresh produce, cleaning, health and beauty, and baby products, as well as food and items for pets - basically, everything you can buy at the supermarket.
Is there anything else I need to know?
Nielsen may also send short surveys if you fit their demographic requirements. These surveys appear in the app and can be completed on your phone.
What Do I Get? How Much Can I Earn with Nielsen Homescan?
- You will receive points for your participation. There are 60 points given for installing the app, and then four points for each entry (including "on holiday") up to five entries per week.
- There are also points to encourage long-term engagement – 30 points per month (subject to your spending being in line with similarly sized households), bonuses at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months and on your birthday.
- Any surveys you are invited to complete will also earn points.
- Accumulated points can be converted into cash equivalents using either a Nielsen Homescan E-Card, which gives you $1 for 10 points, or a Prezzy Card, which gives you a slightly worse conversion rate.
- If you made the maximum five entries a week for a year and complete some surveys, you could earn 2000 points, which would convert to $200. Whether that is worth it might depend on your shopping habits. A barcoded supermarket shop can be simply and quickly scanned as you unpack your groceries. If you buy a lot by weight at a fruit and vegetable shop, farmers market, or local butcher, it can take quite a while to enter everything manually.
Nielsen Homescan's Points and Rewards
Nielsen Homescan - Pros and Cons
Pros
Cons
- Nielsen is a legitimate market researcher
- Easy to complete each survey
- Easy to work out what you are earning
Cons
- It can take several weeks or more to get signed up
- You are disclosing all of your household spending
- Depending on where you shop, it might end up taking quite a bit of time to make your entries
- Surveys are unpredictable
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- For a full list of survey websites, some open to New Zealanders, we suggest reading this British-based list of best surveys, which goes into extensive detail.
