Tesco Clubcard Prices & Nectar Prices: supermarkets accused of misleading customers

Which? investigation suggests advertised discounts are not as good as they appear.

Supermarkets have been accused of hoodwinking shoppers through their loyalty schemes which promise lower prices.

A new investigation from the consumer champions at Which? found that the supermarkets are using “dodgy tactics” to make the deals on offer seem better than they really are.

Which? analysed 141 products which are part of the Clubcard and Nectar card price promotions, where cardholders qualify for lower prices, and tracked their pricing over the last six months.

And it questioned the pricing being employed.

For example, it pinpointed a jar of Nescafe Gold Blend Instant Coffee at Sainsbury’s, which was advertised as being available for £6 for Nectar cardholders, down from its ‘regular’ price of £8.10.

However, the regular price at Sainsbury’s had been £6 until two days before the Nectar Prices scheme was launched, after which it was hiked to £8.10.

What’s more, that ‘regular’ price was much higher than is charged at other supermarkets ‒ it only costs £5.99 at Tesco or £5.49 at Lidl, for example.

Tesco was found to be behaving in a similar way.

Which? highlighted the 605g Heinz Salad Cream, which has a Clubcard price of £3.50 and a regular price of £3.90.

However, the regular price of the item had been £2.99 for several weeks before it was hiked to £3.90, just three weeks before the Clubcard promotion.

According to Which? the product had been at its supposed ‘regular’ price for only 25 days out of the previous 183.

In total Which? found that a third of the products at Sainsbury’s had been at their ‘regular’ price for less than half the time over the previous six months, while at Tesco it was around a quarter of items.

Where’s the unit pricing?

This isn’t the first time that Which? has questioned these loyalty schemes, either.

Earlier this year it accused Tesco of breaking consumer law by failing to include unit pricing on items included in the Clubcard Prices scheme. 

Which? argued that not only is this against the law, but also makes it much harder for shoppers to work out whether the deals on offer really are better value for money than those outside of the scheme.

Which? gave the example of a Heinz tomato ketchup.

The 700g bottle was on sale for £3.90 ‒ or 55.7p per 100g ‒ though this dropped to £3.50 for Clubcard holders.

There was no mention of the unit cost, which is 50p per 100g.

Yet there was also a 910g bottle of the same product, at a price of £3.99 as standard, or 43.8p per 100g.

This wasn’t included in the Clubcard Prices scheme, and was actually the cheapest per 100g, but shoppers may assume that the smaller bottle was better value since it’s part of the scheme.

The supermarkets’ response

Unsurprisingly both Tesco and Sainsbury’s have disagreed with Which’s findings.

Sainsbury’s for example pointed to the impact of inflation, meaning that the cost of many products had increased as a result, and emphasised its efforts at being “transparent” in how customer data is used.

Meanwhile, Tesco said there are strict rules in place covering the Clubcard Prices scheme and how they represent genuine savings.

Despite this Which? has shared its findings with the Competition and Markets Authority and asked them to investigate whether ‘regular’ prices are being hiked to make the loyalty prices appear more attractive.

I need to cut my food bill

It’s not exactly a secret that the cost of our food has accelerated at an incredible rate of late.

There were points in recent months when food price inflation was at the highest levels seen since the mid-1970s, leading to an awful lot of pain at the till for normal shoppers.

As a result, most of us have had to look afresh at how we handle our food shopping and look to make some savings.

That’s precisely why so many supermarkets have come forward with price promotions.

It’s not just Tesco and Sainsbury’s that have launched schemes offering lower prices for loyalty scheme members either, since Co-op has done the same. 

Other supermarkets have focused on trumpeting price cuts or revamping their loyalty schemes, but all with the intent of convincing us that they are on our side and want to help us spend less at the supermarket on our food shopping.

The trouble is, as Which? has shown, we can’t always take them at their word and instead have to really engage with what we are paying ‒ and what we could pay elsewhere ‒ for our food.

Being willing to shop in different stores, rather than just the most convenient one, can also make a difference.

We know that far more shoppers are heading to the likes of Aldi and Lidl precisely because they know they can get better value for money there.

As more shoppers make the switch, it will push supermarkets to go the extra mile in delivering tangible savings.