TESCO ARE UPPING PRICES BY AT LEAST 10% - not good - i left my trolley

LittleVoice

milliemonster wrote: »

. . ., because of all the supermarkets now there are strict competition laws which means one supermarket can't severely undercut another on one particular product (as that would be anti competitive and they would incur serious fines) . . .

Can you explain this legislation, please? To which Act are you referring?

BrandNewDay

Wow... I went to Asda last night and I was gobsmacked. I'd even seen this thread and so I should have been prepared.

I don't have a great memory for prices, but I do buy many of the same things over and over and have a vague idea of what stuff costs. Anyway, these increases were so striking that even I noticed. We're not talking about a few things that used to be £1.29 now being £1.39... more like jumps from 7p to 10p (Smart Price yogurt) or £2.69 to £3.89 (Hagen Daaz ice cream). I mean, really big jumps that you just can't miss. Now, as it happened the shelves were nearly bare last night and so I had to either skip some things or buy alternates, so I probably didn't spot a lot of changes, but on the items that were in stock, it was quite obvious.

My guess is: Asda and Tesco have discounted their non-grocery stuff so severely in order to compete on the Christmas buying season that they have to recoup their losses, now. No matter how much they discounted iPods, consumers could still choose not to buy them. But, we do have to buy milk and bread... and we will continue to buy them long after the holidays are past. We'll be buying food as the recession deepens and we stop buying new clothes and DVD's. So, that's where they're going to have to make their money.

I'm interested to see, though, how the prices go with the shops that only sell food. If they also increase their prices, it may mean my theory is bunk.

I thought, though, that there was a general deflation going on. I dunno.

BrandNewDay

fifi63 wrote: »

I know you are going to say I'm a killjoy but in real terms the percentage of our income that is spent on food has halfed in the past 40 years. I think the era of really cheap food in any supermarket has come to an end.
I don't find it pays to shop around that much although I will say that I still find Aldi and Lidl offer the best value for basics and the quality is better that most other supermarkets budget ranges.

I think Aldi and Lidle are cheaper if you want to just go fill your cart with stuff you need. I think that it's generally cheaper (although maybe not just now) to shop carefully at Asda or Tesco. But, if you compare like-to-like (that is, decent quality store brands, rather than "value" or "smart price" to what is offered at Aldi) you will definitely come out ahead at Aldi/Lidle. My fingers are crossed that Aldi won't be hiking their prices because I'm going to be doing my general shops there much more often.

worcester1

I too noticed how much my local tescos kept increasing their prices not by the odd 1, 2, or even 5% but anywhere between 20-30%.

My 17 month old son loves kids carrot sticks crisp which until last week sunday were sold at tescos for 31p - exactly a week later it now cost 46p. That is a massive 33% increase - I instead went to Morrisons and got them for 34p.

It is not only the one massive price increase I have noticed but;

iceberg lettuce from 75-85p to 109p - and they are even smaller
big tin tuna in brine from 99p to 139p
tescos hot crust buns from 99p to 129p
small sunflower oil bottle from 115p to 159p.

Most people tend to notice or mention the basics such as bread, eggs or milk but to be honest these have not gone up as much as the rest of the other things we don't buy as often.

I understand the value of the £ has dropped and we are in a credit crunch but I reckon companies such as tescos are using this as an excuse to hick-up prices. I am sure their overheads haven't increase by that much to justify a sub 20, 30 or even 40 % increase.

What do you guys think?

worcester1

sneezyboots wrote: »

how exactly are they ripping you off? do you know what their mark-up margins are? do you know exactly what their balance shets look like? clearly not! do you even realise that supermarkets actually have the smallest mark-ups per item they sell around?

if you think a store like tesco is ripping you off you need to get out more. prices go up. prices go down. if you see a price you aren't willing to pay, don't pick the item up. sounds straight forward enough to me.

although if shops changing their prices bothers you that much, find a patch of ground and grow your own food, i hear tesco are doing some great deals on seeds at the moment :rotfl:

whatever their mark-up margins are surely you can't justify a 33% raise on my lttle boy's addictive freaking organic carrot crisp within a week. For christ sake think of the children:rotfl: Not sure why he likes them so much as they are absolutely horrible

I am not only having a go at Tescos - the rest are just as bad. I accept things are bound to cost more due to the weak pound and the financial meltdown but surely we haven't seen hyper-infllation yet but greedy food retailers taking the pi$$

maccarabbit

Have noticed the same at Asda many things more expensive plus certain items have disappared from the shelves altogether ie 3 pack of garlic replaced by single bulbs. have now started shopping more at aldi and lidls as both are on way home anyway.

BrandNewDay

worcester1 wrote: »

I understand the value of the £ has dropped and we are in a credit crunch but I reckon companies such as tescos are using this as an excuse to hick-up prices. I am sure their overheads haven't increase by that much to justify a sub 20, 30 or even 40 % increase.

What do you guys think?

Honestly? While I'm sure they're always seeking to maximize profit, the truth is that there is a keen competition between the major supermarkets, as well as Lidle and Aldi, that would probably keep them from hiking prices up so high simply in order to make more money. I think you're right that they're leaving the staples pretty much alone and looking for sneaky ways to increase prices, but I don't think they're motivated by sheer greed... at least, no more so than any other for-profit entity with shareholders to keep happy.