Baby Consumables - Warning to watch Boots & Mothercare prices

samwardill

I have a new baby so I have been buying J & J nursing breast pads for my wife. I usually buy them from Waitrose for £1.87. One week Waitrose ran out so I tried buying from Mothercare. In Mothercare I found that they cost £3.49!

So I wrote to Mothercare customer service. Their initial response was that they charged the same at Boots and they must be on special offer at Waitrose.

So I wrote to Boots. Their response was that they had a very generous loyalty scheme.:huh:

I wrote back to Mothercare to point out that it was not a special offer and all major supermarkets normally charged 50% less than Mothercare for this product. This time the nice lady in customer service (Viv) listened and contacted the buyer.

The Mothercare buyer's response was that £3.49 was the RRP and "we cannot comment on what the competition decide to do with their prices".

I would like to comment on what Mothercare and Boots decide to so with their prices compared to supermarkets. Beware when buying baby consumables from Mothercare and Boots, prices can be twice as much as supermarkets!

Mankysteve

Welcome to joy of shopping around

samwardill

Mankysteve wrote: »

Welcome to joy of shopping around

I'm sure that we all shop around. However, I think we should expect that big multiple retailers would not operate price differentials of 100% for identical basic commodity items. Otherwise consumers lose all trust in the particular retailers that feel they can charge double the going rate!

honeypop

samwardill wrote: »

Otherwise consumers lose all trust in the particular retailers that feel they can charge double the going rate!

Obviously not, as people still buy things from Mothercare and Boots all the time.

You've compared Mothercare, Boots and Waitrose and found that the first two charge more, so I would say their prices are 'the going rate' and Waitrose, being a supermarket, are cheaper. Rather than supermarket prices being the norm and the other two charging too much. Almost everything you can get in a supermarket is cheaper than getting it from a specialist shop, there's no surprise there and hardly warrants a warning to others.

Personally, I paid the extra for Mothercare breast pads as they were the ones I 'got on with' better than the rest, due to size, shape, padding, sticky-ness etc. Sometimes with baby-related products, I have found you get what you pay for. Although mostly, the supermarket items are as good as the rest but better prices.

samwardill

honeypop wrote: »

Obviously not, as people still buy things from Mothercare and Boots all the time.

You've compared Mothercare, Boots and Waitrose and found that the first two charge more, so I would say their prices are 'the going rate' and Waitrose, being a supermarket, are cheaper. Rather than supermarket prices being the norm and the other two charging too much. Almost everything you can get in a supermarket is cheaper than getting it from a specialist shop, there's no surprise there and hardly warrants a warning to others.

Personally, I paid the extra for Mothercare breast pads as they were the ones I 'got on with' better than the rest, due to size, shape, padding, sticky-ness etc. Sometimes with baby-related products, I have found you get what you pay for. Although mostly, the supermarket items are as good as the rest but better prices.

I am surprised that I am the only one that thinks that Mothercare & Boots are in a different market from supermarkets. I would expect a small specialist pharmacy to be in a different market but not Boots & Mothercare.

As for getting what you pay for. Let's remember that we are talking about exactly the same product here (branded J&J breast pads).

MrsBartolozzi

When I was B/F my boys I found the washable pads to be so much comfier and cheaper. The disposable ones were like cardboard IMO!
But yes I agree, while I no longer need to buy baby products I would go to a supermarket or Superdrug over Boots for shampoo, deoderant and other stuff Boots sells unless there's a special offer on.

For your information though, Sainsbury's have a Baby promotion on this month. J&J pads are £1.13, and there's a third off all nappies and baby stuff.
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/

sarahg1969

If they're £1.87 at Waitrose, I'm sure they'll be even cheaper at Asda and Tesco.

samwardill

sarahg1969 wrote: »

If they're £1.87 at Waitrose, I'm sure they'll be even cheaper at Asda and Tesco.

Mothercare Customer service did the research:

• MC: £3.49
• Asda: £1.73
• Tesco: £1.78
• Sainsburys: £1.74
• Waitrose: £1.74
• Boots: £3.49

They just chose not to take any action!

pmduk

samwardill wrote: »

Mothercare Customer service did the research:

• MC: £3.49
• Asda: £1.73
• Tesco: £1.78
• Sainsburys: £1.74
• Waitrose: £1.74
• Boots: £3.49

They just chose not to take any action!

You've answered your own question. The whole ethos of this site is to realise shops will charge what people will pay. Just don't encourage them by paying over the odds!

nomoneytoday

My corner shop charges 50p for a Mars bar, compared to 40p at the Supermarket. Is it legal for them to earn a profit selling goods and services at a higher price?

honeypop

samwardill wrote: »

I am surprised that I am the only one that thinks that Mothercare & Boots are in a different market from supermarkets. I would expect a small specialist pharmacy to be in a different market but not Boots & Mothercare.

Not really, Mothercare is a specialist baby products store, Boots is a pharmacy type store, both very different to a 'we sell a bit of everything' supermarket.

samwardill wrote: »

As for getting what you pay for. Let's remember that we are talking about exactly the same product here (branded J&J breast pads).

We can't remember that because you didn't say you were shopping for the exact same brand, your OP simply says breast pads so I took that to mean breast pads in general, and I based my response on that.