New downshift challenge tool discussion

[MSE Jenny]

Hi all, we've built a new The Downshift Challenge tool help show how much you could save by trading down supermarket brands.

If you could let us know what you think, that would be fab. How are the results for you? Is there anything you'd like to see added?

Thanks for your help!

MSE Jenny

[sherbie]

hi, thankyou, it was fun, once i got the gist of the arrows, and its a great idea to make folk think about own brands...but the thing is we only buy branded goods when theyre on offer (after checking theyre cheaper than own brand) so it wasnt really a fair representation of savings we could make (£1272). we also get alot from lidl/aldi. but its a great idea, and it will be helpful to many, so thankyou!

[ineed]

Had another go at it, Like that you've added the downshift by half to the results, even if I tried then only downshifted by half I'd have a saving of £1,408.94 .

Morrisons Receipt

Weekly spend downshifted a brand
Premium £33.60 £0.00
Branded £86.40 £19.15
Own brand £0.00 £46.66
Value £0.00 £0.00

Totals: £120.00 £65.81

Estimated annual savings: If you downshift on everything: £2,817.88

Yet even if you TRY everything and only then downshift on half, that's a saving of: £1,408.94.

[song_of_calliope]

About 25% of what I buy is loose fruit and vegetables which are unbranded. How would these figure into the savings? But even though it doesn't completely make sense to me, I do think it could be useful to people who haven't really given much thought to the choices they make when shopping. To those of us with a bit more experience at moneysaving, I don't think it would be terribly useful.

[declanmcc]

The tool is a great idea but it's all a bit vague when it doesn't actually take into account what you're buying. But yes, it's a great reminder of where and how we can save on our weekly shop .... but the biggest challenge to me last night was trying to find stock in my local Tesco. A weekly shop which I'd calculated as £55.12 and which was made of mainly of value products ended up being £59.56 due to value products not being in stock.

If this was the case every week, then I'd be PAYING Tesco £230.88 extra per year (roughly a month's worth of shopping).

[WishI'dReadSooner]

Not very well thought out.
Like many I ONLY buy branded goods on offer and stock up when they are on really good offers - which sometimes/often means they are less expensive than value ranges.
The Value ranges are often not available in many items and also if you price compare sometimes other ranges are cheaper than value.
As song-... wrote - what about fruit and veg? These are a large portion of a weekly shop for many of us.
Pretty basic info here that means absolutely nothing to me. Many of us had to downshift, way before Martin decided it was a good idea, to try to make ends meet.

[Canucklehead]

No Waitrose ? They do a price match on 1000s of items with Tesco and also have a very successful 'Essentials' range.

Canucklehead

[meher]

first impression - absolutely fab designing

I even liked your article alert banner - very appropriate

I didn't however like it that ocado wasn't included. They are competetive. Their packing is eco-friendly, needless to add that their produce is local and they price match regularly. They are mindful of the enviornment in selling and delivery of their produce. It is just that we don't speak a lot about it, so people don't know about it. They sold laphroaig the other day for £20. I bet people who bought the same thing, same day from sainsbury for £26 thought they got a deal. They have offers everyweek. They pricematch regularly.

Apart from that whoever designed it - it is simply cleverly executed. I liked the results turn up as a receipt!

But I do not agree with the point on downshifting branded use of cleaning stuff and more importantly cosmetics because cheap stuff might spoil your gloves or cause irritation to skin. Oldstyle stuff is a lot better than cheap brands. I'd say either old style or brand but not own brand or value stuff. But that's because there may be no harm with old style however tedious and time consumeing it is, where as unbranded may be questionable. Other than that, this write up needs a little research, for instance:

Often lower-cost products can be better, as there are fewer flavourings, colourings and chemicals.

This is just a myth. There is a likelihood that there are preservatives and there will be preservatives in every such item - branded items use better quality preservatives; low cost products use very cheap preservatives - so nutrition is not the only highlight, the preserative is a factor. In the case of fruits and vegetables, organic stuff, free of chemicals and artiifical ripening, are actually expensive. Low cost items are created by pumping all sorts of weed killing stuf and produced in large quantities. Organic stuff are also locally produced and likely to be fresh. Use of colorings and flavorings is not always bad, the flavourings could be that of badam for instance, rich if protein or coloring of safron, that has medicinal properties.

I didn't see any glitches; it is instantenous and a really interesting idea.

[yestopinkdiamonds]

It's an interesting tool for those who are interested in spending as little as possible on food. However, I prefer organic or free range produce and non-toxic eco cleaning products which tend to cost more than Value or Own Branded items.. so not that useful for someone who is interested in value for money rather than pure savings.
Also, I find that when it comes to baby items, branded items are often on sale (huggies regularly do 50% off) and if you time your purchase properly branded baby items are often as cheap if not cheaper than regular priced own brand items.

[Mobeer]

I find it curious that the tool overlooks the idea of shifting up a brand. It acknowledges that you might notice the difference, in which case don't downshift:
"Drop one brand level on everything to see if you can tell the difference. If you can't, then stick with the cheaper product."

But it seems to be missing the idea that by shifting up a brand you might get better value for money by enjoying the better product more. I have certainly found this with some of the Tesco essentials items, where the quality is really bad, whereas some of the Finest range is a much better buy.

[Edwardia]

I think the whole concept of premium ranges is a cynical marketing exercise to get more money out of us. Sometimes a product will taste appreciably better eg The Co-operative Truly Irresistible coleslaw is made with double cream and creme fraiche and has fresh chives on top ready to be stirred in.

But how is a new potato or an apple Taste The Difference if the same variety as the standard own brand ?

Sometimes premium ranges are even more expensive than organic yet premium ranges can contain stuff from animals/poultry fed on GM feed as well as insecticides, fungicides and pesticides and organic can't.

[bcl999]

My friend has downshifted. He has stopped buying for SHAMpoo cos real poo is free!