Revealed: The truth about supermarket 'bargains'

[Digital Fanatic]

The UK's 'big four' supermarkets stand accused of misleading shoppers with confusing and untrue claims about their special offers which could potentially leave them open to prosecution.

The BBC's Panorama programme has uncovered a series of pricing flaws at Asda, Morrisons Tesco and Sainsbury's. Experts say some are in breach of consumer protection regulations.

Linkage HERE

I've often seen two smaller packs being better value by more than 50p of the "better value - larger packs"... no wonder are bills are going up! Rip off Britain indeed!

[Gary L]

They're doing it with everything now. it's them against us. and the way it works is that they treat us like an idiot.

[idi banashapan]

I'm surprised it's taken this long for the media to catch on to this. it's been going on for years. many a time I've seen 'deals' whereby buying the same number of items individually is cheaper. they prey on those who can't be bothered to actually count to work out if it's actually going to save them money! for instance, I remember seeing a 3 pack of tuna being £1 more than were i to buy three tins individually. same kind of thing with the mini pizzas. my friends and I used to out-do each other by trying to find the worst deal when we went shopping!!

[martyh]

I can't believe that the BBC have devoted a whole program to this what a waste of money and i can't believe that people don't understand why supermarkets have to do it ,it's not a con it's all to with stock movement and the price it is bought from the supplier

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by martyh

I can't believe that the BBC have devoted a whole program to this what a waste of money and i can't believe that people don't understand why supermarkets have to do it ,it's not a con it's all to with stock movement and the price it is bought from the supplier

You can tell he owns Tesco's. can't you?

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by martyh

I can't believe that the BBC have devoted a whole program to this what a waste of money and i can't believe that people don't understand why supermarkets have to do it ,it's not a con it's all to with stock movement and the price it is bought from the supplier

What? Have you ever dealt with a supermarket as a supplier? I know people who have, and let me tell you how it happens. You don't set them a price. They come to you and tell you that they will pay such and such a price. If you make a loss, that's your problem. You nominally have the option to agree to sell to them at that price, or disagree and not sell to them. I say "Nominally" because you can do it, but they trade on the fact that very few companies (whether small, medium, large or huge) can afford to ignore the extra sales that the likes of Tesco and Sainsburys will bring them. So, no, they don't have to do it (or if they do, they are massively incompetent). If you think any of the supermarkets trade as honestly as they make out, you are, frankly, naive.

Sadly, the two best people to talk about this (gazfan and Nugget) don't seem to be around much anymore.

Especially as all the supermarkets are reporting record yearly profits almost as a matter of course now.

And actually, it's part of Panorama's remit to investigate situations where large groups of the population may be being conned.

[martyh]

Originally Posted by Gary L

You can tell he owns Tesco's. can't you?

I wish

Supermarkets buy products from the manufacturers in huge quantities so they can get them at the right price thus selling to us at a low price and still make a profit .Sometimes it will happen that the buyers can get for eg 10,000 large tubs of clover but only 5,000 small tubs of clover .the small tubs will priced as normal but the large tubs will be priced cheaper because A) they where bought at a cheaper price than normal because of the quantity and b)the supermarket have to move that stock before the sell by date comes due so they put the large tubs on a special price to attract customers knowing full well that most will not compare prices they will just pick up the tub with a big red £2 tag on it .Nothing wrong with it ,it is a perfectly sound selling strategy

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by martyh

I wish

Supermarkets buy products from the manufacturers in huge quantities so they can get them at the right price thus selling to us at a low price and still make a profit .Sometimes it will happen that the buyers can get for eg 10,000 large tubs of clover but only 5,000 small tubs of clover .the small tubs will priced as normal but the large tubs will be priced cheaper because A) they where bought at a cheaper price than normal because of the quantity and b)the supermarket have to move that stock before the sell by date comes due so they put the large tubs on a special price to attract customers knowing full well that most will not compare prices they will just pick up the tub with a big red £2 tag on it .Nothing wrong with it ,it is a perfectly sound selling strategy

That's not the point panorama is making.. They were making the point that in a lot of cases, the supermarkets were charging more for the large items than they were for the appropriate number of small items. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/fr...00/9652944.stm

One example there is Tesco charge £12 for a large container of Vanish. If you buy the same amount of Vanish in smaller containers, it comes to £9. I'd be surprised if Tesco paid any more than £3 for each large container.

The article also makes the point that in many cases, they are telling us that something is a special price when, in fact, it isn't. This is actually a common selling strategy, but it isn't morally sound, and, if the article is correct, is legally dubious.

And another thing. Supermarkets rarely suffer problems due to something being near it's sell by date. It does happen, but they have spent £millions on streamlining their ordering, inventory and logistics systems so that the company rarely holds more than a couple of days of stock.

They don't, of course, tell the customer any of this.
In the meantime they are telling us that they are getting cheaper than ever (when actually the reverse is true).

[martyh]

Originally Posted by Stuart

That's not the point panorama is making.. They were making the point that in a lot of cases, the supermarkets were charging more for the large items than they were for the appropriate number of small items. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/fr...00/9652944.stm

One example there is Tesco charge £12 for a large container of Vanish. If you buy the same amount of Vanish in smaller containers, it comes to £9. I'd be surprised if Tesco paid any more than £3 for each large container.

The article also makes the point that in many cases, they are telling us that something is a special price when, in fact, it isn't. This is actually a common selling strategy, but it isn't morally sound, and, if the article is correct, is legally dubious.

And another thing. Supermarkets rarely suffer problems due to something being near it's sell by date. It does happen, but they have spent £millions on streamlining their ordering, inventory and logistics systems so that the company rarely holds more than a couple of days of stock.

They don't, of course, tell the customer any of this.
In the meantime they are telling us that they are getting cheaper than ever (when actually the reverse is true).

don't get me wrong ,i don't trust special offers or the big red price tag ,my wife works in a large freezer chain and is quite vocal when we go to morrisons and always checks the price of the smaller packages compared to special price of larger packs .People do have to remember though that supermarkets are trying to make a profit from the consumer not do us favours (no matter what their adverts say)and pricing strategies such as these highlighted are as you say common and have been used for years and not just in supermarkets .The point i was trying to make about the sell by dates was that because the supermarkets have streamlined their ordering ,inventory and logistics to such a extent means that if they have a large quantity of a certain size container (maybe large tubs of clover)they will be priced to attract customers and move quicker that normal because they won't want them lying around on the shelves and that particular size may not be a common stock item for the supermarket such as this example below

At the moment cat food (felix agail to be precise) is currently on special price at most supermarkets for around £12-13 for 48 pouches ,this same offer is in most large supermarkets ,my local Jolly's pet shop and my wifes freezer shop .That points to the manufacturer having a glut of this particular size package (which morrison, Jolly's or farmfoods don't normally stock) and so it is priced as a special ...buying 2x 24 pouch packs is £2 cheaper though and i'll bet a weeks wage that it will be the turn of whiskers to enter the merry go round of special prices in the next couple of weeks .People need to look better that is all

[Hom3r]

I always check unit/£ per KG price, and have NEVER been conned by this practice.

I saw a program that set up a market stall and sold an item and had a sign 49P each or 2 for £1. They couldn't understand why when they gave their £1 they got 2p change.

[Maggy J]

Buy only what you need when you need it.

[blackthorn]

Martyh, you havent looked at the boxes of Felix agail or the whiskas properly, they have reduced the amount in them to 44 sachets, not 48, theyve been like that for months now.

[dave6x]

Caveat Emptor - Let the buyer beware

This was the rule in my dealings with commercial suppliers, and is the same when you purchase anything from anybody!

Retailers are there to make a profit and to keep the owners and shareholders happy.

Careful shopping can produce good savings and in most cases supermarkets show the price per unit, per 100g, etc., that can be used for comparison. If shoppers are too lazy to do their homework then they shouldn't complain that the supermarkets are ripping them off when they allow themselves to be ripped off!

[martyh]

Originally Posted by blackthorn

Martyh, you havent looked at the boxes of Felix agail or the whiskas properly, they have reduced the amount in them to 44 sachets, not 48, theyve been like that for months now.

yes they have you are quite correct i have missed that one

---------- Post added at 20:38 ---------- Previous post was at 20:38 ----------

Originally Posted by dave6x

Caveat Emptor - Let the buyer beware

This was the rule in my dealings with commercial suppliers, and is the same when you purchase anything from anybody!

Retailers are there to make a profit and to keep the owners and shareholders happy.

Careful shopping can produce good savings and in most cases supermarkets show the price per unit, per 100g, etc., that can be used for comparison. If shoppers are too lazy to do their homework then they shouldn't complain that the supermarkets are ripping them off when they allow themselves to be ripped off!

What he said

[Maggy J]

Originally Posted by dave6x

Caveat Emptor - Let the buyer beware

This was the rule in my dealings with commercial suppliers, and is the same when you purchase anything from anybody!

Retailers are there to make a profit and to keep the owners and shareholders happy.

Careful shopping can produce good savings and in most cases supermarkets show the price per unit, per 100g, etc., that can be used for comparison. If shoppers are too lazy to do their homework then they shouldn't complain that the supermarkets are ripping them off when they allow themselves to be ripped off!

What a nice get out.Frankly the retailers should also have a mind to their consumers rights as well.
Oh for the days when those who were caught cheating their customers were placed in the stocks..