Asda phasing out multibuys – should other shops follow?

Have already commented against multi buy offers

I am happy to buy long dated items such as cleaning products, alcohol, & household items, but not food as it is often wasted. I always check the ‘price by weight’ panel to ensure a good deal.

I am a recent widower and find if I buy offers the usual go bad before I can use them- hence they don’t become good value for money. I am therefore forced to buy the expencive one item.

I have no problem with marketing tactics to persuade me to buy more – to be expected in a consumer market in wealthy nations. What gets my goat is blatant misrepresentation like the ‘Best Value’ banners on large washing powders, when 2 smaller boxes would be cheaper. Without that banner it is borderline, but should still be avoided by the retailer is only for moral/ethical/environmental reasons where the additional packaging should mean it should cost more to buy two smaller items than one larger one.

I used to buy the “buy one, get one free” items if it was something I used and wasn’t perishable. Recently I notice it is more likely to be “buy two, get one free” which exceeds the amount I wish to purchase due to extra initial cost and limited storage space. It seems as if we are being encouraged to buy more items per offer which I am not interested in.

I don’t even get to working out if it’s value for money sometimes as I often shop for a few items only and the last thing I want to do is be laden up with a lot more goods than I intended buying in the first place. I find it frustrating if I want to buy a particularly bulky or heavy item and it is on a 2 for 1 offer. If it is a good saving, I end up not buying it at all if I don’t think I can carry the extra items cos I then begrudge paying for the one item when there is a reasonable saving on two. It’s as if the supermarkets assume that everyone bulk buys.

We are fortunate in having good storage space and a large chest freezer. Multi-buys represent good value for my husband and myself and save considerably on journeys to the supermarket. We would not usually buy fresh fruit and vegetables on a ‘buy one get one free’ basis unless we knew that we would be eating them within their sell-by date.(Offers on summer fruits, for instance.). Our local grocery store has good offers if two packets of one make of cheese are bought – and they are always long dated.

I have to say that my husband is a more vigilant shopper than I am – and has certainly seem some offers which do not make sense.

I’m sick to death of all the promotions, coupons and store cards. I just see them all as me being made to subsidise somebody elses shopping. I’ve made that complaint before to the manager when I’ve been given coupons. I just want straight, simple prices, which would no doubt be much cheaper if they didn’t waste all this money on marketing. I don’t want to have to waste time thinking about coupons, I don’t want to keep being asked for a bl**dy store card that I will never have. Whenever my nostrils fill with the freshly cooked bread fumes that are deliberately pumped through the air con system I just think to myself that is Tesco/Asda/Sainsburys/Morrisons saying they hate me – they’d rather hypnotise me into buying some doughnuts I don’t need and one day give me diabetes than lose a few pence off their profits. Same with all the sweets near the tills, they’d rather my children lose their teeth and become obese than lose any of their precious money.

I think multi-buys are fine if it is on non-perishable items.
Multi-buys on perishable foods like fruit and veg should be against the law as it encourages waste, peanalises small and single person housholods.
If the supermarkets have overstocking problems or genuinly want to help customers the offer should be half price: not two for the price of one.

I could not agree more.

The supermarkets prefer us to stock their products for them; we give them our hard-earned cash months in advance of us using the goods; I have recently had a clear-out and found cleaning products that outlast the bottles – which bio-degrade – and now reguarly ignore the BOGOF lines. In addition, I now regularly visit the “Pounds Stores” because they sell most of what the supermarkets try to offload on us at a fraction of the price.

At one time I gave supermarkets the benefit of the doubt on these offers, not thinking that they do things that suit themselves, not the consumer. An example – I used to buy a particular brand of pate from a well known supermarket. It went missing from the shelves for about a week. When I saw it next the price had jumped from 59p to 85p for the same pack. Several weeks later it was on offer(!) at 2 packs for £1.50. I have never even looked at a multi offer again. I do, however, buy short dated items offered for sale at the end of the day. I am prepared to accept that, as long as I keep them well chilled they will be good for more than a day and consume them within three days.

You can bet your bottom dollar that once the initial reductions have been made it’ll be
in no time before the so called reductions climb back to their previous or higher level.
Don’t be conned by all this waffle from the supermarkets that they’re helping their customers
get better value, the only thing that their interested in is getting more punters through their
doors to maintain their profit margins and to get a bigger slice of the cake. Remember that it not.been for the advent of Aldi,Lidl etc. which shook the big guys up we would still be getting ripped
off by the big supermarkets. How can a 25p pastry brush jump to over £1 and despite denials of collusion that price change happened in a few of the big boys.
If you really want to save money and keep the big boys on their toes then shop in Aldi or Lidl and only use the others to top up what you couldn’t get in either Aldi or Lidl.
Don’t let the lack of known “brand names” put you off as the quality of goods on offer is on a par or even better than the brand names. Fruit and veg is very reasonably priced with top quality produce. Vote with your feet and SAVE MONEY

BOGOFs and multi-buys should be curtailed or outright banned (as in other countries) because they are so wasteful, and unfair (and make my brain hurt when I try to work them out!). What is particularly objectionable is their prevalance on perishable goods, which clearly encourages food waste e.g. it’s not possible to buy any fresh meat in my small local store (who pretend to be ethical) without either paying over the top for one, or buying two or three packets which I do not need and which can’t fit in my freezer.