A couple of weeks ago we reported on Convo the result of an inquiry into misleading and unclear pricing in supermarkets. We’d now like to hear from the supermarkets what they’ll do to tackle these problems.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigated after we made a super-complaint on misleading pricing tactics.
Supermarkets now face impending regulation changes, angry customers and potential enforcement action.
Now that the CMA has published its concerns, the supermarkets must tackle the problem head on.
After giving them time to digest the investigation’s findings, we’ve written to the people at the top – the supermarket CEOs – encouraging them to tell us what they will be doing to clean up their act.
We want them to support measures to strengthen the rules on what qualifies as a special offer. Measures that would make special offers more meaningful for you, create a level playing field and drive genuine competition.
This is a clear opportunity for supermarkets to improve their image and win back your trust – and we want them to take it.
The problem that won’t go away
We showed the CMA examples of dodgy multi-buys, shrinking products and exaggerated discounts uncovered over a seven -year period. Many of the examples we gave were from Convo readers.
The CMA found hundreds of potentially misleading prices on the shelves of five supermarkets. It concluded that unit pricing needs to be clearer so shoppers can use it effectively to compare similar products.
And it was concerned too about ‘was/now’ offers where discount prices were used for longer than the original price.
We’ve now called on the supermarkets CEOs to find solutions to dodgy offers and to show they really do understand your frustrations as customers.
With more than 165,000 people now backing our campaign and the CMA considering enforcement action, it’s time for the supermarkets to tell customers what they will do to solve this problem. Let’s hear their plan.
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