Supermarket abuse of pricing?

[throwaway4372]

Just ban two tier pricing then it's ok.
If every item just has one price then it's fair.
So no loyalty prices.
No "buy all this other stuff to get it all cheaper" meal deal / bogof things.

Different prices for different people is discrimination, end of.

 

[Minusorange]

2) MrsHB likes me to jump onto the online shop once she’s done so I can add anything I want. Thought I’d add a feast ice cream pack of 3, but £4,50. Nope, it’s ridiculous. This was with Sainsbury’s.

In a few weeks they will be £2.50 or something similar with Nectar to look like a deal when that's just the normal price and the inflated price is to make the normal price look a deal

 

[Kelt]

They pro rata the price matches if the product isn't identical.

Aldi are 4x 100ml, sainsburys 4x110ml, so they price it 10% higher to match.

God forbid they ever beat Aldi on a price.

 

[Jimbeam3678]

Just ban two tier pricing then it's ok.
If every item just has one price then it's fair.
So no loyalty prices.
No "buy all this other stuff to get it all cheaper" meal deal / bogof things.

Different prices for different people is discrimination, end of.

So ban OAP discounts?

 

[throwaway4372]

So ban OAP discounts?

Hadn't thought of that, but yeah I think those aren't fair either.

 

[Rai200]

So ban OAP discounts?

And student discounts, NHS discounts/blue light discounts, teacher/carer discounts, memberships for places like Costco etc.

Just ban two tier pricing then it's ok.
If every item just has one price then it's fair.
So no loyalty prices.
No "buy all this other stuff to get it all cheaper" meal deal / bogof things.

Different prices for different people is discrimination, end of.

Lets be honest here, everything would then just be at the higher prices and we would all lose out.

 

[throwaway4372]

Lets be honest here, everything would then just be at the higher prices and we would all lose out.

Nope - competition would function properly.

 

[Mr Badger]

And student discounts, NHS discounts/blue light discounts, teacher/carer discounts, memberships for places like Costco etc.

Lets be honest here, everything would then just be at the higher prices and we would all lose out.

Maybe that's why so many people are applying their own "five finger discount" these days...

Nope - competition would function properly.

That seems a contradiction. Removing the ability of businesses to operate as they think best (which includes offering promotions and discounts to increase footfall) sounds like restricting their ability to compete. Could it not just end up in a monopoly, as the biggest player was able to offer slightly lower prices than any of their competitors?

 

[throwaway4372]

There are already measures to prevent a monopoly.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

The part of this that most of you are missing is most of the loyalty card prices are funded by the manufacturer of the product and not the supermarket. It’s just marketing.

The reduced fruit and veg is a loss leader and they do it because the competition does it.

Hardly anything outside of big branded products and a few bits of token fruit and veg is on a loyalty card price.

Hardly anything outside of the stuff on loyalty card prices is actually stuff you need. Almost all of it is discretionary purchases and there is almost always a cheaper non-brand alternative you can buy.

 

[Diddums]

The part of this that most of you are missing is most of the loyalty card prices are funded by the manufacturer of the product and not the supermarket. It’s just marketing.

The reduced fruit and veg is a loss leader and they do it because the competition does it.

Hardly anything outside of big branded products and a few bits of token fruit and veg is on a loyalty card price.

Hardly anything outside of the stuff on loyalty card prices is actually stuff you need. Almost all of it is discretionary purchases and there is almost always a cheaper non-brand alternative you can buy.

Who's behind it is irrelevant when items are costing you double though. I remember when I first moved to the UK the supermarkets were seemingly falling over each other to throw BOGOFs and stuff at us. Nowadays they just jack up the prices and give you "loyalty prices" which is just the same as what you paid before.

 

[marinersfan]

We shop alternately between Asda and Tesco. Usually pretty much the same price every shop.
One of them is cheaper on dog dental chews though.

We've been using a Tesco clubcard I signed up for with the name Dave Buttocks and a random address for years, not that it makes a massive difference.
We don't use the new Asda app thing, I've not deemed it worth my time pratting with.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Who's behind it is irrelevant when items are costing you double though. I remember when I first moved to the UK the supermarkets were seemingly falling over each other to throw BOGOFs and stuff at us. Nowadays they just jack up the prices and give you "loyalty prices" which is just the same as what you paid before.

It’s not irrelevant, it’s highly relevant.

You can’t just hand wave away a food producer using its marketing budget to lower its price for a temporary period in certain retailers.

It literally happens in every category, be that food or a power tool or even a car.

They do it because it is effective at building up market share and profit.

We've been using a Tesco clubcard I signed up for with the name Dave Buttocks and a random address for years, not that it makes a massive difference.

That random address will be getting your vouchers in the post which in theory they could spend on your behalf.

At the end of the day signing up with a false name and address changes very little of anything. The valuable part is your shopping habits, not your name and address and you are giving that to them anyway so you might as well use your real address so at least the vouchers come to you.

They can largely piece that together from your payment card anyway unless you are paying cash or rotating your payment card every time and let’s be realistic only those who are buying a lot of tin foil are doing the latter.

 

[Mr Badger]

We shop alternately between Asda and Tesco. Usually pretty much the same price every shop.
One of them is cheaper on dog dental chews though.

We've been using a Tesco clubcard I signed up for with the name Dave Buttocks and a random address for years, not that it makes a massive difference.
We don't use the new Asda app thing, I've not deemed it worth my time pratting with.

The ASDA app is somewhat variable. There are often offers to get £5 of free credit if you sign up. Currently the rewards offered are a waste of time, but when they run (say) a prize spin competition it can be great. In the recent one I must have picked up the best part of £100 in credit (helped by a £60 win and a couple of £6 wins). Just needed to keep popping in on my way home from work etc and spending £5 to win a prize of at least 60p.

 

[Diddums]

It’s not irrelevant, it’s highly relevant.

What's relevant is the amount of money leaving my bank account and the goods I receive in return. That's it. Nothing else. Where that money goes, completely irrelevant. I'm the end user, the customer. I don't give a monkeys about their business model. I simply take my business elsewhere.

 

[HoneyBadger]

For the first time in my life, I visited a Lidl today with MrsHB, there’s one about 6 miles away, but we were in the area. Having just had a shop delivered Sat morning by Sainsbury’s, we didn’t need much, 4x big very nice chocolate bars with nuts in unlike Cadburys, 2x some donut cake things, 2x salted Pretzels and some veg. £7.82 for the lot!

 

[b0rn2sk8]

What's relevant is the amount of money leaving my bank account and the goods I receive in return. That's it. Nothing else. Where that money goes, completely irrelevant. I'm the end user, the customer. I don't give a monkeys about their business model.

Do you treat the likes of Screwfix, Toolstation and Costco with the same level of distain? You can't even buy anything from those shops without creating an account and handing over your personal information.

I simply take my business elsewhere.

Good luck with that.

 

[Diddums]

Do you treat the likes of Screwfix, Toolstation and Costco with the same level of distain? You can't even buy anything from those shops without creating an account and handing over your personal information.


Good luck with that.

Im not bothered about personal info, they can have all they want. I only care about the greed and the inflated costs, together with the deceitful practices.

Oh and you don't need an account with Screwfix or Toolstation, you can just pay at the counters.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Im not bothered about personal info, they can have all they want. I only care about the greed and the inflated costs, together with the deceitful practices.

All the big supermarkets including Aldi and Lidl make less than 4% profit, yeh they are really greedy. Their margins are miniscule.

You spend £50, their profit is LESS than £2 and most of that profit is made on non-food, junk food and stuff like 'finest' ready meals no one needs. A lot of fruit and veg is sold at basically zero margin.

All of this is publically available information, its in their accounts. Not only that, that 4% has to cover future investment.

Oh and you don't need an account with Screwfix or Toolstation, you can just pay at the counters.

Nope, you need an account, if you dont have one, they make you set one up before they will sell to you. Name, address etc are required to be handed over.

 

[Diddums]

Nope, you need an account, if you dont have one, they make you set one up before they will sell to you. Name, address etc are required to be handed over.

My branches of both must be doing it wrong then, last weekend I turned up with a stock number, asked for it at the counter and simply paid by card. I've had this happen with both TS and SF.

As for profits, I can't comment as I don't know what their margins are.