Supermarket promotions confuse two thirds of shoppers, survey reveals

Shoppers are flummoxed by the bewildering array of supermarket promotions, new research commissioned for The Grocer has revealed.

Two-thirds of shoppers were left scratching their heads when asked to identify the best value for money deal from a choice of four real promotions, a survey by GMI on supermarket offers and pricing found.

Some 1,010 shoppers were asked to pick out the best value for money deal on bacon from a promotion run by Waitrose. They were given four options - A: three 175g packs with six rashers in each for £4 B: a 250g pack containing eight rashers for £1.98 C: a three-pack of option A for £10 and D: a three-pack of option B for £5.

Just 34% correctly identified option C was the best value for money on a per rasher basis. Instead, 39% plumped for option D, 15% for option B and 12% for option A.

Shoppers in the survey had similar trouble with a milk promotion at Asda. They were asked to pick the best value deal from either: six pints for £1.65 four pints for £1.25 two six-pint cartons for £3.50 and two four-pint cartons for £2.

Although 58% correctly identified two four-pint cartons for £2 offered the best value for money at 25p a pint, nearly a quarter (22%) opted for the second-best deal (six pints for £1.65).

GMI, which posed the same questions using the same examples in 2011, said that although more shoppers claimed they hunted for the best deals (91% versus 79% in 2011), their ability to identify which actually were the best deals had barely changed.

“There was very little improvement in working those offers out - only 2% to 3% in most cases,” a GMI spokeswoman said. “That means that based on exactly the same offers, shoppers haven’t improved their ability to spot the best price.”

MoneySavingExpert.com was unsurprised by the findings. “A supermarket’s job is to make us spend money, and they are experts at it,” said head of editorial Dan Plant. “Even the way they flag up ‘great deals’ is designed to obfuscate, with sales-type signage used for bog-standard price goods.”

A Which? spokeswoman added: “Our own research has found nearly three-quarters of people feel supermarkets are trying to mislead them by using confusing pricing practices.

“Consumers shouldn’t have to worry about whether a special offer is really ‘special’. Our Price It Right campaign calls for supermarkets to make a firm commitment to treating customers fairly by scrapping misleading price promotions.”