Costco, Shorters Club, Amazon Grocery: the pros and cons of buying in bulk
Buying your goods in bulk from outlets like Costco and Shorters Club can get you huge discounts. But are there any downsides?
Food prices went up 1.4% in September according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation. As costs jump it has become increasingly important to become more frugal in the way we buy food.
In the US people regularly buy goods in bulk. They even had a National Bulk Foods Week recently. The UK on the other hand seems less receptive to supersizing to make savings, but are we missing out?
Let’s take a look at what you can buy, where you can go, the savings and if there are any pitfalls to stocking up.
What can you get?
When you buy in bulk you purchase much larger quantities to get access to a unit price that is cheaper.
You can get store cupboard goods like porridge, cereals, juice, coffee, tea, cooking oil, tinned food, snacks, and biscuits. These items have a longer shelf life so can be stored for greater periods.
Expensive bathroom, household and baby items like toilet paper, toothpaste, washing-up liquid, foil, clingfilm, washing powder, baby wipes or nappies could also be worth buying in bulk.
Elsewhere buying larger cases of alcohol and also meat (as long as you can freeze it) might make you savings.
Where to go
Unfortunately, buying in bulk through multi-buys at the supermarket can be riddled with catches, as we found out in Which?: The four ways supermarkets con shoppers.
But there are other places to go that offer clear-cut wholesale goods.
Costco is a well-known wholesaler that supplies small to medium-sized business owners’ with cheap goods for resale or for business use. But individual membership is available too; it costs £30 including VAT. That sounds like a lot of money to shell out, but from experience it can offer substantial savings on all manner of things from quality meat to caterer-sized clingfilm.
Shorters Club is a good place to start if you are wary of paying any money for membership. It’s an online shop that allows families and small businesses to benefit from wholesale prices and you can register for free. It has a wide range of groceries, alcohol, cosmetics, baby, home and pet products.
Amazon Grocery could also make you savings. Launched in July 2010 the online store offers value on individual items, but also gives you the chance to take advantage of bulk-buys such as nappies, washing powders, pasta, rice, herbs, cooking oils and spices. You can shop normally or subscribe to access an extra 10% saving, but subscribing means you have to agree to products being delivered regularly.
If you’re worried about the cost of meat try Westin Gourmet. This online specialist meat store sells quality beef, steak, pork, sausages and chicken at wholesale prices. And for those that are after natural foods Naturally Good Food has a wholefoods bulk buying section for lentils and pulses as well as nuts and dried fruit. Natural Collection has some interesting deals too.
Making savings
So what about the savings?
One journalist who has vowed to stay away from supermarkets has said that she saw the biggest savings from joining a wholesalers and buying in bulk. She expects to be £2,500 better off a year!
In my own experience Costco has saved me lots of money. I used to shop there and get ten large good quality chicken breasts for £15. At Tesco this would have cost nearer £20 on the value range.
Elsewhere buying a 2.27kg pack of smoked streaky bacon at Westin Gourmet, which has about 55 servings, costs £14.07 or £6.20 per kg. Tesco in comparison has a pack of 14 smoked streaky rashers for £2.27 or £7.57 per kg. A bulk purchase from Westin Gourmet would save you £3.11 on the equivalent Tesco purchase.
An Andrex white toilet tissue nine pack costs £4.65 or 51.7p a roll at Sainsbury’s but five packs of nine costs £21.82 or 48p per roll at Amazon Grocery. That’s a £1.43 saving if you chose to buy more.
On tinned tomatoes bulk can also come out best. At Shorters Club you can get a 12 pack of Napolina Tomatoes for £11.43 or 95p a tin but at Tesco the cost of one tin is £1.23 (when it’s not on offer) meaning you would save £3.33 overall.
These are only a few examples. The savings you make will depend on what you normally buy and which supermarket you usually go to plus what offers are on at any one time. But in general bulk buy prices seem to stack up rather well.
Downsides
Although bulk buying can save you lots of money in the long run, there are a few downsides.
Space
First off you need more space to store all these things. Giant clingfilm and masses of meat are likely to take up a lot of room. But if you have a large freezer and some extra cupboard space then this shouldn’t be a problem.
Upfront cost
For some it may not make sense or even be possible to spend more money now to save money later. Although the cost per unit is low the upfront price of bulk goods is high. So the cost of buying more might not suit your wallet at the time especially if you are only paid weekly or fortnightly.
Waste
You might not want to eat porridge every day or wash your hair with the same shampoo for half a year. So you could produce waste if you choose to stop using or to throw your bulk buys away later down the line, eliminating the savings you made. It’s important to weigh up the price with how much use you are likely to get out of it.
Greed
Buying items wholesale might mean you get through everything twice as quickly because it appears like there is lots of it. This can be dangerous with fatty, unhealthy foods like chocolates, biscuits and crisps. Because there is so much you might find yourself eating more! But would you have eaten so much if you had bought just what you needed?
Brand-only savings
With a lot of the online wholesalers the savings that can be made are generally only on branded products. So cheaper budget lines at a supermarket might actually provide better value.
Alternatives
Collective purchasing is another way to entice retailers to give big discounts. It’s the premise of group buying websites like Groupon but a recent Channel Four documentary called Bulk Buy Britain tried to make it work in the town of Bolton with surprising results.
Using less so it lasts longer and finding cheaper products can work too. If you are interested in buying value range foods read: Morrisons, Tesco, Asda or Sainsbury's: which store has the cheapest value range? to see which supermarket comes out best.
Verdict
There are genuine savings to be made with bulk buying and it could benefit smaller households as well as larger ones.
But as with anything you buy make sure you are getting the cheapest deal by comparing prices as you could find better elsewhere through special offers. Read our weekly Frugal Food blog to keep on top of the latest deals.
What do you think?
Are you a fan of bulk buying? What items do you stock up on and where do you go to get them?
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