The supermarket industry should abandon its phoney price claims, according to Richard Baker, Asda's deputy chief operating officer. He claimed these tactics were backfiring because all they did was erode further consumer trust in food retailers. "It is up to the senior people in our industry to recognise that we have got to tell the truth and only promise what we can deliver. We need to take a responsible view and stop trying to make quick hits in the press." But his pleas look set to be ignored. Carlos Criado-Perez, chief executive of Safeway, claimed that tests on customers baskets in store had proved Safeway was cheaper than its rivals. He said price cuts on thousands of items did not matter to customers in a store, it was the prices of the items in their baskets that were important. Price claims aside, Baker said the industry had to wake up to the fact it had continued to lose the trust of consumers in the past two years. Confusing pricing strategies and the perceived poor treatment of suppliers were the biggest turn-offs for consumers, said Baker. "It is our responsibility to work hard to drive out some of these factors. If we are building brands we have to build the trust of consumers." The good news, said Baker, was that the industry did have a strong base of support on which to build. Asda's research found consumers rated supermarkets more highly than the NHS when it came to delivering value for money. And more than half of all shoppers thought supermarkets acted with honesty and integrity. Baker said that EDLP was the best way to win customers' trust on value, and even Criado-Perez agreed that was "perhaps" the case, but added: "I would rather have a more exciting environment and very good offers." {{NEWS }}

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