Supermarket shopping: big price fluctuations depending on when you shop

Heading out grocery shopping at the wrong time can see you pay far more for your branded goods.

It’s no secret that you will pay more for your shopping based on where you shop.

Nobody expects their bill at Waitrose to cost the same as a near-identical till at Asda, for example.

But there are all sorts of other factors that can influence the cost of your groceries too, with one new study suggesting that even the time you head to the supermarket playing a part in the price of your goods.

It’s shopping time

The consumer champions at Which? compared more than a million prices for almost 500 branded goods on sale at the big six supermarkets throughout 2020: Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

And the investigation threw up some extraordinary price fluctuations.

Take Lavazza Qualita Rossa ground coffee at Ocado. Which? found that while it cost just £1.30 for 63 days last year, for 130 days ‒ around a third of the year ‒ it cost a massive £5. That’s a frankly ridiculous 284% more.

Muller Light Greek Luscious Lemon yoghurts were another example highlighted by Which?, as at Sainsbury’s the price jumped between £1 and £2.75 at roughly three-week intervals.

By comparison, the same product was available for £1 or less at least one of the rival supermarkets for around 85% of the year.

Similar issues were picked out with various products at the other supermarkets. Carte D’or vanilla ice cream prices at Asda fluctuated by 133%, while at Tesco there were price variations of 122% for Jordans Country Crisps Four Nut Cereal, for example.

Why is this happening?

Some of the supermarkets included in the study have defended these wild price changes, arguing that they are simply striving to deliver the best value to their customers and that the cost of different items will inevitably change over the year.

And while that’s clearly true, the scale of those price changes are striking and can leave shoppers facing dramatically different bills when they get to the till.

As Which? pointed out, almost all of the items included in the study varied in price over the year, and could be found discounted in one or more supermarkets at any one time over 2020.

Importantly, when Which? has quizzed shoppers on supermarket promotions, one in five said they were confused by them, while a clear majority (73%) said they would prefer consistently low prices.

What about the deep discounters?

It’s notable that Aldi and Lidl don’t feature in the study. According to Which?, that’s because they tend to sell fewer branded items.

What’s undeniable though is that the more competitive pricing you’ll find at Aldi and Lidl is forcing supermarkets to react.

Both Tesco and Sainsbury’s have launched price match schemes with Aldi to bring what they charge for certain items in line with the discounter, while Asda has announced plans to strip back its product lines so that it can try to compete on price too.

There’s a pretty clear message there. Whether branded or not, the big supermarkets are starting to realise that shoppers want value from their shopping and are happy to head to a deep discounter if they can’t get that value from a big name.

What can you do about it?

So how can you ensure that you don’t end up overpaying for your favourite items? Thankfully, you have a few options.

The first is to make a note of what those branded items that you regularly use tend to cost at your chosen supermarket.

As Which? pointed out, these goods tend to get discounted pretty regularly, so if you know what they usually cost you also know when they are going cheap. When you spot them at a discount, stock up.

Hopefully, that will cover you until they are next on offer.

Another option is to look beyond the supermarkets themselves and see if you can pick up some of those branded standards more cheaply at retailers like Wilko or Home Bargains.

You’re giving up a little convenience in terms of always getting your shopping sorted in one go from a single supermarket, but it can result in decent savings over the long term.

Finally, making use of loyalty schemes can help you ride out those price fluctuations. Ultimately if you’re paying with Clubcard points, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re buying that coffee at its cheapest or most expensive.