‘Once bitten, twice shy’ goes the saying. But that doesn’t seem to be the case for the CMA. This week, it published the findings of yet another probe into pricing – and gave another all-clear to the supermarkets.
It’s not the first time it has investigated supermarkets at the behest of Which? and come up empty-handed. It’s not even the first time it has investigated ‘dodgy pricing tactics’.
Its first investigation, in 2016, did not find that misleading practices were widespread, but recommended a series of measures to give shoppers greater clarity and confidence that they are getting a fair deal. This is the CTSI (Chartered Trading Standards Institute) Guidance for Traders on Pricing Practices.
Why was it released? Because of a Which? super-complaint about supermarket pricing practices. As Trading Standards said: “Which? had claimed that retailers were misleading and confusing consumers into sales by creating a façade of savings that did not actually exist.”
The CMA report in 2016 was 114 pages long, and largely cleared the industry of those allegations. This time it was 115 pages long, with exactly the same findings: “The overwhelming majority of the loyalty price promotions we reviewed offer genuine savings on the usual price of that product at that retailer.”
It would seem Which? is convinced there is a conspiracy amongst all the retailers to rip off their customers, and that cabals exist where ever more ‘dodgy practices’ are thought up. There was no evidence of this in 2016, there is no evidence of it now.
But regardless of the evidence – or lack thereof – this cynicism is filtering down to public opinion. According to the CMA’s 2024 report, 40% of shoppers say they do not trust loyalty prices are a genuine saving on the usual price.
According to its consumer survey, 55% also think the price for non-members during a loyalty promotion is generally inflated. The key word here is ‘think’. They don’t know, they don’t have any evidence, it’s just a hunch.
Where do they get this information, unless they are monitoring the price of everything they buy every week? Maybe they are influenced by Which? constantly voicing its opinion that supermarkets are full of dodgy deals? Every investigation from the CMA into retailers and their practices has been full of insight such as: “Consumers should continue to shop around to find the best deals, even when supermarkets are promoting a loyalty discount.”
Probably the most galling thing that both the CMA and Which? assume is that the customer is too stupid to work out for themselves when a deal is real or not. They think that when shoppers walk into a retailer, they are bamboozled by all the offers.
They think customers are unable to think for themselves and see through retailer pricing tactics. There is evidence that this is utter rubbish – and it’s called market share. When customers think a retailer is not offering real value, they take their money elsewhere. Asda is not the value retailer it used to be, and that is why it has lost 2.5% of share in three years.
Will the CMA continue to listen to and act on Which?’s continued onslaught against the supermarkets? Or will it wake up and realise grocery retailing in the UK is ultra-competitive, and consumers benefit every day? Because on this issue, it really is that simple.
No comments yet