Money Saving Tips for Grocery Shopping
For the majority of people, the weekly grocery shop can be one of the most costly living expenses. This encourages people to try and find bargains at their local supermarket to reduce their outgoings on essential items. Students in particular can find food shopping a costly expense, especially if they are living off unsecured loans.
The amount of competition between supermarkets has resulted in them advertising seemingly too good to be true and launching price comparisons against their rivals. Many of these deals are attractive to customers who are drawn in by “buy one get one free” and “half price” offers. But are these deals really customer focussed or are they simply a battle between supermarkets? Here we look at some of the supermarkets supposedly sterling savers and how their marketing strategies cunningly line their pockets.
Half Price Deal
This gets consumers thinking “wow! That’s great value for money!” In many instances this is simply not the case and customers will be paying the price of what the supermarket should actually retail the item at. This is due to the rule that shops must retail the product at full price for 28 days prior to marking as half price. This allows the supermarkets to sell the “half price” items at a rate they should retail for whilst convincing consumers they are getting better value for their money. Before assuming a deal is excellent value, consumers should take a step back and think “is this really a bargain or is it around RRP?”
Advertising Deals That Don’t Exist
Many supermarkets use television, print and radio advertisements to alert potential shoppers of their special offers. Often, when a shopper visits the supermarket with intention to purchase the advertised product they are greeted with a “sorry this item is temporarily out-of-stock…” With desires to purchase the said item they are then inclined to purchase another brand of the particular product which is more expensive than the original. At this stage, customers are left feeling disappointed and wishing they had bought the item from elsewhere. Although the supermarket is genuinely out of stock, they have technically gained custom from advertising products that aren’t available.
Another common problem are the technical errors that occur at the check-out. On occasion the cash register fails to recognise a discount. Some customers don’t realise until they get home that they have paid full price for the item that was advertised as being on offer, particularly when doing a large weekly shop. They often feel that it isn’t worth the time or the petrol money to go back to the supermarket and claim their money. The consumer may have purchased a brand of the particular product they are not as keen due to the money saving aspect and are now stuck with it at full price.
What Customers can do to get Value for Money
Customers should always quickly analyse the price of the product they’re buying to be sure that they’re getting as good value as implied. Supermarkets use marketing strategies to portray products as better value than they are and moneywise customers should be aware of this. There are savings to be had at supermarkets if common sense and a quick price comparison between brands are made.
Written by Stephanie Staszko on behalf of Finance Facility who help those who are struggling to find a loan.
That is true. The biggest expense in our household is our grocery shopping. I am still trying to find ways to minimize our expense without compromising our health. Buying inexpensive food but unhealthy is not a good compromise.
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