We investigate supermarket tactics that make you buy more

I’ve just been looking through the Implementing the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU guide on the government website, apart from it taking 3 years to implement. I’m hoping this line should be helpful with unit prices on multibuys.

“consumers should get clear information before they buy:”

although I bet the supermarkets will agree against it.

I fully agree with the last comment. Having decided to purchase tinned tomatoes in Tesco the price per weight comparison process came to a grinding halt when one brand was priced as “dry weight”. I went to Aldi instead!

I visited Waitrose today and was pleasantly surprised to notice an increase in the number of unit prices displayed on more and more of their products.

Beryl, I don’t know why you’re surprised, but showing the unit price ( for non promotional items) is mandatory requirement under the The Price Marking Order 2004 . Promotional items are left to the discretion of the supermarket as to whether they display such information (and I really wish that wasn’t the case)

William: There is definitely a need for supermarkets to be more compliant with their promotions and I couldn’t agree more; trouble is some of these promotions can be difficult to define since anything that contains packaging with a label or logo of some description could be classified as “promotional” and others, such as “promotional offers” are most likely to be transient, which makes it very difficult to legislate and supermarkets are inclined to take advantage of this. Which? will no doubt know more about this I would guess.

Apologies for the brevity of my last post due I presume to what I can only describe as my usual post supermarket fatigue! The unit prices I was referring to were those that come in an ever increasing package where you can find 3 identical items in 1 pack. I noticed that in Waitrose the price of each individual item in some of the packs containing 3 for example had been displayed in smaller print as well as the price of the whole pack, which made it much quicker and easier for me to determine whether it was cheaper to buy one single item or the whole pack of 3 [not being that savvy with mental arithmetic any more!]

Incidentally whilst browsing in the meat department I was quite unexpectedly approached by a very insistent elderly gentleman who very kindly guided me to where there were meat offers at half the price. I thanked him very much but did wonder at the time whether he was a member of Which? but he disappeared round a corner into the adjoining isle just as quickly as he appeared and sadly I never got to find out. In case anyone has doubts about the authenticity of this, I do still have the meat in the freezer complete with half price labels still intact!!!

Interesting, please share the correspondence from the supermarkets to the suppliers and the responses back…shocking!

Different products and I asked questions of a supplier for one and the supermarket for another another, and they typically reply by phone so no correspondence to share,

I have seen some extreme examples of this, for example Tesco charging £1 for two cucumbers or 90 pence for one.

This is another “scam” by the supermarkets to get rid of surplus produce they would otherwise have to pay to dispose of themselves. Who realistically eats two cucumbers before one of them starts festering in its polythene wrap? A lot of this BOGOF food ends up in landfill that we as rate payers then pay again to dispose of. Not such a great bargain!

If everybody would refuse to buy fresh fruit and veg that has a BOGOF promotion (whether the over-priced single item or the 2 for 1 “deal”), the price for single items would come down and this nonsense would stop.

Come on Which? – time for a BOGOFF to BOGOF’s campaign! The amount of food being wasted by supermarket purchasing practices is costing everyone money, except the supermarkets themselves.

I did start a government epetition to ban the practice of BOGOFs on perishable goods. I think I got a whopping 12 votes. 🙁

Last year I also emailed the chairman of Tesco suggesting they stop doing them, as you can guess they didn’t like that idea. They’d rather spend millions revamping stores ( e.g. moving stuff around again).

There was a Lords committee that published something on BOGOFs a week or so ago, but I’m guessing nothing will happen.

What does BOGOF mean?

BOGOF = Buy One Get One Free

Brilliant!

It’s not exactly brain-busting technology requiring advanced psycho-analytical techniques to take more of the stress out of supermarket shopping. I also think more products should be displayed in alphabetical order within their category [it works well for herbs and spices I notice, but they say it can’t be done for cumquats and lychees in the tinned fruit department]. Incidentally, my feet usually tell me when I’ve reached the sugar aisle and my nose is also useful for certain products. I thought the answer to wasting time in supermarkets was to have home delivery but that introduces additional annoyances.

If you watch the staff who fulfil the home delivery orders, they have a hand-held terminal that guides them through the store on the most efficient route. Two conclusions:

1) Stores are deliberately laid out to make retail shoppers travel more “shelf miles”, so there is more opportunity for them to pick up items they don’t want as they go.

2) It wouldn’t be hard to have a system where shoppers prepare their list of groceries, either at home in the internet, or on arrival in-store, and a pre-programmed self-scan terminal is handed out to guide the shopper. Or if the stores won’t provide the service for free, how about a smartphone app?

More excellent suggestions!

Perhaps I go shopping at the wrong time, but I’m afraid I have a gripe about the staff who are pushing big trolleys around picking home delivery orders: they seem to block the aisles ans stand around talking to each other as though no other customers existed!

William, does your daughter spend her day in one aisle only?

She does 4 hour shifts, and stays in the one aisle the whole time. She’s been working for getting on for 3 months and I think she;s only ever done 2 or 3 aisles.

She hates the booze isle and the soft drinks aisle, as too many people bulk buy so there’s alot of heavy lifting.

The reasoning behind a single isle being it reduces travel time and it means the pickers will be quicker finding the items.

It’s less a case of being unable to think for ourselves but rather that we are always susceptible to advertising in its various forms. If we were not susceptible then the whole advertising business would collapse overnight!

I came across a similar apparent ploy in the local Lidl store. An advertisement for a range of special offers available on the following day appeared in the local evening newspaper. When I visited the following morning, not only could I not find the special offer items but all the shelves were full and there was no obvious place where the items could have been. This happened twice so I assumed that it was a standard ploy to get people to visit. I have to say that this was a few years ago and I have had no desire to visit this store ever since.

Tonyp – I have been told that Lidl have been doing this for years. I call in periodically to look at their hardware, some of which is very good value for money and some is mediocre at best. There is usually a list of offers posted on the glass doors, and this seems to bear little relation to their stock.

Shopped today – some M&S soup is £2, some £2.50 at normal prices – depends on the flavour.

They think it will convey the idea that their shop is full of fresh food. Its a marketing ploy. Although at my local Tesco the number of times you come across mouldy, damaged fruit and veg you really have to wonder.

They also put milk and eggs towards the back so you have to walk through the shop to get them increasing the chances of you making other non essential purchases.

Perhaps the supermarkets are helping by encouraging us to buy more vegetables and eat a more healthy diet.

I will carry on buying meat and fish to accompany my vegetables. 🙂

You may have a point Wavechange but for different reasons. Fresh fruit and veggies have a much shorter shelf life than most commodities, so supermarkets will be keen to shift them before they start to decompose. When you enter a supermarket you are feeling less weary than when you leave so you are more likely to go for the nice fresh grass greens, opulent oranges, rich reds and yummy yellows on display, not to mention the welcoming array and aroma of freshly cut flowers to greet your arrival and to lift your spending potential mood!

In contrast, don’t forget when you exit at the checkout that last minute high calorific quick energy fix sweet treat on display to tempt you and cheer you up when you may have been waiting in a long queue and feeling a little jaded, hungry and tired.

Thanks Beryl. I will try and pay more attention to the attractive displays of flowers, fruit and vegetables next time I drag myself along to the supermarket near where I live. Anything that can improve the experience of a visit to a supermarket is welcome.

On the bottom of your receipt there’s a How did we do section and a web address for submitting comments, I suggest you ask Tesco to explain. I’d be interested in what they have to say.

The bag size difference my just be down to the fact that they’ve run out of larger bags. Just like my local Tesco seem to always manage to do with mushrooms bags.

And nice way of attaching photos photos to your post, shame there no easy way to attach photos to posts directly. as we all know a picture paints a thousand words.

Thank you so much William for your reply and suggestion.
I don’t think that it is because they run out of big bags. I looked at the bags, because when my husband brought the shopping items home, I noticed immediately the difference in size and aspect of the loaf. Unfortunately, the left-over from the previous loaf was not enough to compare, but the new loaf was clearly thinner and shorter, and the grains on the top were at least half the amount that it used to be.
There was no indication of the weight, or content on the bags, either. Just the label shown in the pictures. Even the bar-code is the same.

I will try to contact TESCO, though I have little hope. Thank you again! 🙂

Andra – I expect that these are 400g or 800g loaves and that this should have been shown on the shelf label.

These open packets constitute unwrapped bread, I believe. Here is a link to the law on the subject, which changed a few years ago: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2011/9780111513156

Dear wavechange,
The bread is not “unpacked”.
It is packed in the bags, with the price and code-bar on the label. You don’t pick the bread from the shelf and place it in a bag. It comes pre-packed in the bags.
So I think that obviously it should be the same.

Also, the new loaf was not half of the old one. Just about 20-30% smaller. Not a “multiple of 400” as it appears it’s stipulated in the law.

Today I bought a new loaf. The bag was as big as the “old one” in my pictures, but the bread was 370 grams.
It looks like they don’t respect any kind of standard.
The price was still 1.50 pounds. 🙂

Andra – Since these are not sealed bags, I believe it counts as unwrapped bread because the bag is not sealed. From the link I posted:

“Unwrapped Bread

6. (1) For the purposes of this article “unwrapped loaf of bread” means a loaf of bread which is not made up in advance ready for retail sale or wholesale in a securely closed container …”

I must have a look at what is on offer in my local Tesco.

In my experience Tesco do seem to struggle to match items with the correct label and shelf (and that’s assuming they have a label) could that be the issue?

Thank you so much both for your comments. They are very, very useful.
Yesterday we got another loaf, that was in size similar to the ones we were buying before the 1st of May. However, I noticed that it is now much fluffier, almost impossible to cut because of this, and even lighter than the one we bought two days ago (348 grams).
I took a picture : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=714460205283685

It might be that either they had too many complains when they tried to reduce the size of the bread, and now they are in search of another “every little helps” method, or whoever prepares the dough and bakes the bread is rather unable to stick to the recipe.

I will have a look in the shop, if the label on the shelf has any indication about the size, weight or content of the breads. 🙂

I tend to bake my own bread, and I find the symptom you describe happens on a very fresh loaf, after its been left to set a few hours its much easier to cut. Just a thought. Although I wouldn’t put it passed Tesco, as indeed Every Little does Help them.

We checked today.
As suspected, there is no indication about this bread on the tag on the shelf either.
Nothing on the packaging either: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=715083551888017
New bread bought: 381 grams.
I doubt that any of these breads reach 400 grams.

Andra – I spotted the Six Grain Loaf on sale in Tesco and it was the only loaf that I could see that did not have a weight shown. When I pointed this out to the person in charge of the bakery he told me that this is one of a range of new products on sail in the store. He believed that it did comply with the law but immediately took the loaves off sale and said that he would check the legal position. I was very impressed, and this is not the first time I have found helpful people in my local Tesco store.

One difference was that your Tesco was selling the loaves in open packets whereas the bread I saw was in sealed transparent packaging, which will make it a wrapped product.

Tesco actually asked me for my opinions on my shopping experience the other day and took note of my comments on various aspects. I commented on the quality and colour of the bananas and changes were made immediately!

Thank you so much for your kind comments.
I think it might vary from shop to shop. We go to a very large TESCO in Maidstone and the staff might be much busier.
My new loaf(s) over the past few days are more similar to what they were before, though the bags are small.
The last loaf we bought is clearly smaller than the previous ones, but interestingly it weights 409 grams.
I will post a picture by the end of today. 🙂