Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The Great Flapjack Scandal at Sainsburys
The local Sainsbury is so full of BOGOFs (buy one get one free) and other, often specious, "OFFERS" that one could be forgiven for thinking you could come out of the store with more money than you went in with.
So much of their merchandising – AKA confusion marketing – seems aimed at disguising higher prices and frustrating price comparisons.
The best example of this I've seen is their flapjacks, near the far corner of the store. These used to be priced at £1 for six slices, in a plastic tray.
The company has managed to hold the price at £1 but, there's a big but: the contents are dramatically reduced. Where once there were six slices, now there are only three.
In effect, the price is nearly doubled.
In order to help disguise the extent of the value reduction, the three, slightly larger slices are now separated in a redesigned tray that features two ridges that space out the slices more widely. Less contents, more packaging, same price. Does this amount to deceit?
More generally, weights & measures (that aid price comparisons) on most products are as hard to find as ever, often in tiny print and/or are deeply hidden.
Tags for Forum Posts: Sainsburys, comparison, confusion, flapjacks, marketing, price
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by 12q5bfcw008kj on
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Yes indeed!
There is another example at the store with toilet rolls, the Sainsbury's own ones made from recycled paper.
A pack of four rolls cost me £1.90, because I looked in vain for a better bargain with a larger pack. I forget the exact price of the six-roll pack, but it was a lot more than £2.85 that would have been proportional (if my arithmetic is correct at this time of night
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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But actually the (larger) rolls in the six-roll pack have 1.5 the number of sheets on them, so are better value overall. But it takes time and effort, and mathematical ability to work all this out - I don't have a full-time job that I'm rushing home from, or lugging kids with me when I shop, so I can afford the time to faff around with all this calculating.
Today I got held up at the till a, having bought something especially because I had a coupon for it, the coupon then didn't work on the till - I had to queue at customer services to get my discount.You can imagine I was popular with the rest of the shoppers...
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Yes you really have got to watch this chicanery. What surprises me is that their own marketing people are INCAPABLE of working out when the 100g of coffee is £2.50, reduced from say £3, the 200g jar is still £5.50!
I am pretty awful at maths, but simple 'Sums' and I can beat the checkout. Obviously the marketing boys and girls never got Maths GCSE, or like me O level ..
But do they not realise that when 2 x 100g = £4, but if a 200g coffee in a fancy storage jar was £3.90, we'd probably lash out and get 2 big ones ... or am I being too simplistic and logical here ...
But the flapjack bites one is intriguing.
Channel 4's Dispatches on the economics of Poundland and 99p stores was fascinating, you really do have to check and compare prices. Happy shopping punters!PS Clive, yes I think Sainburys, Tescos etc, marketing people ARE that daft, as they negotiate the deal on the most popular sizes, and forget to amend pro-rata the larger size for the duration of the offer. I hadn't noticed the Tropicana Juice one either ... Bonkers!
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Ricp, I wouldn't rule out carelessness in pricing, but I suspect much of it is deliberately intended to confuse and frustrate comparison, both within the store and with other stores. The flapjack example I gave is slightly unusual, in that I think this is own-brand, baked in-store.
Incidentally, the flapjacks have been, and probably are, delicious.
If their costs had risen it would IMO have been more honest to keep the existing contents with minimal packaging and just raised the price in order to maintain their previous margin.
Instead, they took the opportunity dramatically to increase the effective price per unit – which seems to be the general pattern for the branded products, subject to the placards screaming DEALS and OFFERS throughout the store.
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Makes you mad doesn't it!
If any of you are up Philip Lane anytime, or even close, check out the big 'minimarket' or whatever you'd call it, Expa. Its on the site of the old Botany Bay pub, at the junction of Lawrence Rd and Philip Lane. Amazing place, includes a (turkish-flavoured) deli and bread counter (bakes their own I think), more olives than you can shake a stick at, massive saucepans...erm... decent selection of beer and fruit. Lots more.
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Again these MiniMarts are a bit like AhPu's little store where Homer gets his out-of-date Donuts or ham. Reminds me of the episode when Marge goes to MonsterMart, 'Where shopping is a baffling experience'.
I assume that was Matt Greoning's take on WalMart, but it sums it up. Big or small, they rip you off!
Keep your wits about you, look carefully at shelf tags because I -and you - can work out how long the offer is on for, and of course price per 100g. Also swap your supermarket, and dont buy staples, like Country Life / Kerrygold /Anchor at £1.69, (particularly in Minimarts and 'CostCutter' ... there's a contradiction) when if you check out the offers, you need not pay more than £1.25, or at the moment £1 .....
My bugbear is that Sainsbury's Mini Local / Tesco Express have the nasty habit of charging about 5p more per pack of, say, choccy digestives than in the big stores, and only have McVities not their own label. Another rip-off. RANT RANT .....
Must have my Sainsbury's reduced-to-clear bacon in a Waitrose reduced-to-clear roll. Bargain .... Yummy!
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Sorry, brainstorm ... AhPu runs KwikieMart, and the franchise is run by a Guru on the top of a mountain.
Perhaps Sainsbury's should relocate!
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Fowler on
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RicP - The "local" or "express" or whatever, smaller local branches of all the big supermarkets charge higher prices than a full-size one in the same area. And I'm sure you realise that higher prices are charged in some parts of the UK than others. They don't carry "own label" lines because they get more of a profit margin on the branded goods. And you pay more for the branded goods than the own label ones, even if the quality is comparable, because you are paying for the marketing and the advertising.
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Thanks Christopher, but I've gleaned that fact already, pricing is a quagmire both locally and regionally. But big branches usually have the same price structure in London or Birmingham. It is the duplicity of the big boys who attempt to brainwash us all about their outlet being best value etc, blah, blah. Certain promo lines are the same price in the mini stores as the big ones, other lines are typically 5 to 10 pence more, so a comparable shop is a few % higher, exploiting the fact that we need a couple of extra item which we can get while waiting for the bus.
What I would like to see, and I'm surprised they have not done this, is a Which survey to see how much higher Local and Express stores are compared with the big stores.
We started this dialogue on the shrinking size of various packs or products, an old friend had also noted the in-store Mini Flapjack Bites had shrunk from 20 to 18 bites, but we have also discussed the nonsense of the marketing people who promote 2 small ones for less than the bigger size.
Actimel Probiotic Yogurt Drinks have 2 different offers side by side! 2 x 8 packs for £4, or a 12 pack at half price £1.75. The latter brings the price per pot to 14.6p, the 4 'offer' is 25p per pot. The normal shelf price for an 8 pack is £2.49, nearer 30p a pot. And all three prices sit side by side, as well as on the end site display shelves! BUT the 12 offer is not in Locals. I could go on, but I suppose that is why Sainsburys do not have 'Customer Comment' forms for us to tell them what a bunch of smart-alecs they are. Some of us can do mental arithmetic and DISLIKE being mugged!
It is very difficult to decide whether to support small stores whose prices on some lines are ridiculous, the KwickiMart model, and some stores do have a third world air about them, or the MonsterMart, where 'Shopping is a Baffling Experience'. Poor Marge and Homer, only Lisa has sussed the perils of capitalism!
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Quite right, RicP. And, remember, whenever a brand-name item is on offer, a promotional thing, it is always the supplier, the manufacturer of the product, who is paying for it. The supermarkets are still making just as much profit (if not, in fact, more). The manufacturer is doing it to boost the profile of the product or brand, and hoping for longer-term increases in sales, after the "promo" is over.
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Interesting, I didn't know that. I imagine that the conduct of the local store with pricing is mandated by head office, and the local manager's hands are tied. Quite apart from the dubious pricing, IMO the interior of the store now looks ugly, with big, multiple garish hoardings at every turn.
Visually, these placards overwhelm the signs for aisle contents and numbers.
Even though the sea of DEALS and OFFERS notices are content-free, I wonder if the intention (psychology is carefully calibrated in all supermarkets), is to dull the analytical senses (i.e. ability to compare prices) with a deluge of info-mercial over-load? This might explain the non-sensical price examples above.
Am I too cynical?
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