Supermarkets Taken To Task Over Offers

By Poppy Trowbridge, Business And Economics Correspondent

Some of Britain's biggest supermarkets have been accused of running so-called special offers that often see customers "paying over the odds".

Consumer group Which? analysed more than 70,000 grocery prices and found examples of what they call misleading multibuys and dodgy discounts.

Richard Lloyd, executive director, told Sky News: "People are at best paying what they would have done, or often we have found paying over the odds, paying extra when they think they are getting a discount. That can't be fair.

"These special offers simply aren't special at all. That is why we need to see the rules change to force the supermarkets to play fair."

One example found by Which? was a Sainsbury's special offer for Carex Aloe Vera & Eucalyptus Moisturising Antibacterial Handwash, where the item was priced at £1.80 for seven days, then was on offer at "was £1.80, now 90p" for 84 days.

Ocado sold a 12-pack of Beck's beer as "was £12.19, now £9" for almost a month but had only sold the item at the higher price for three days.

Asda increased the regular price of Muller Light Greek Style Yoghurt from £1.50 to £2.18 before it went on a "two for £4" offer, costing shoppers £1 more.

Shoppers are being urged to look carefully at special offers

It also increased the price of Uncle Ben's Express Basmati Rice from £1 to £1.58 before offering for "two for £3" and then returning the rice to £1 when the offer ended.

With inflation having outpaced average wage growth for about five years, rising food prices are one of the top worries for consumers.

Which? wants the Government to make the rules for special offers simpler, clearer and stricter.

The consumer group says if these changes are not made swiftly, it will consider using its formal legal powers to ensure the practice is tackled.

In the meantime shoppers should look carefully at the special offers, Mr Lloyd added.

"Make sure that you are not getting misled into buying something that you think is a good deal when that is just not the case," he said.

The British Retail Consortium, which represents the supermarket industry, said in a statement: "Across the tens of thousands of promotions available every day, regrettably, occasional errors do slip through.

"Retailers work very quickly to rectify these mistakes whenever they are found."

Both Asda and Sainsbury's also issued statements apologising for what they called pricing errors.

Sainsbury's said: "We are absolutely committed to fair and transparent promotions and carry out regular audits and thorough training on this."

Asda's statement said: "We take pricing seriously, and we've recently employed a new team within the business that looks at all aspects of our pricing process and pricing practices in store and online.

"Sometimes mistakes can happen, but we would never deliberately mislead our customers ... "

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