Sainsburys not-so-special offers

mahedar

Just been buying some beer in Sainsburys

Old Speckled Hen £1.67 - "special offer" £5 for three (saving - 1p)

Estrella 4-pack £4.02 - "special offer" £8 for two (saving - 4p)

Are Sainsburys relying on a good proportion of their customers being a couple-of-pints down already or simply the naturally brain-numbing supermarket environment?

Seriously - this is a transparent attempt to make unwary customers bulk-buy more than they wanted to, without any real saving. I know they've got a book full of tactics up their sleeve for achieving this but shouldn't there be a law against this kind of border-line price deception?

Meanwhile - don't forget to take your calculators when you go to the supermarket.

geordie_joe

mahedar wrote: »

Meanwhile - don't forget to take your calculators when you go to the supermarket.

This is what they rely on, the fact that most of their customers would actually need a calculator to work out what 3 x 1.67 is!

They don't have a calculator with them, so rely on being told if something is a good price or not.

Luckily I'm one of those who went to school before calculators were invented. So I was taught to do maths, not how to get a calculator to do it for me.

Ben84

I was buying coffee last week, and in the couple of minutes it took me to pick a jar two people came by and each grabbed a 100g jar, completely ignoring that right next to it was a 50% extra free jar of the exact same coffee for the same price. I also have noticed people often buying one of a BOGOF item, including when the item is something long lasting like washing powder or jam.

I suspect that many people just pile stuff in trolley and hand over money, and that supermarkets have it easy. I'm not convinced they even have to try to part many people with extra money.

stokefan

Ben84 wrote: »

I was buying coffee last week, and in the couple of minutes it took me to pick a jar two people came by and each grabbed a 100g jar, completely ignoring that right next to it was a 50% extra free jar of the exact same coffee for the same price. I also have noticed people often buying one of a BOGOF item, including when the item is something long lasting like washing powder or jam.

I suspect that many people just pile stuff in trolley and hand over money, and that supermarkets have it easy. I'm not convinced they even have to try to part many people with extra money.

some people are idiots.

juno

Sometimes the offers are because the other supermarkets have the same offer, so even though they're cheaper for 1 they'd be more expensive for 3. Like if everywhere is £2 for one bottle but 3 for £5 but theirs are £1.67 each. Chilled juice is a good example, as everywhere does 3 for £2.50

TravellingAbuela

Shopping these days is like walking through a minefield! OH has at last realised why it takes me so long to do the weekly shop - and that's because he takes about 15 minutes working out which beer offer is the best!! He says if it takes me that long to decide which grocery item is the best value, then it's no wonder I am in there half the day!!

paulwf

mahedar wrote: »

Just been buying some beer in Sainsburys

Old Speckled Hen £1.67 - "special offer" £5 for three (saving - 1p)

Estrella 4-pack £4.02 - "special offer" £8 for two (saving - 4p)

Are Sainsburys relying on a good proportion of their customers being a couple-of-pints down already or simply the naturally brain-numbing supermarket environment?

Seriously - this is a transparent attempt to make unwary customers bulk-buy more than they wanted to, without any real saving. I know they've got a book full of tactics up their sleeve for achieving this but shouldn't there be a law against this kind of border-line price deception?

Meanwhile - don't forget to take your calculators when you go to the supermarket.

I can't find those exact offers online however from what I can tell about their offers I don't think you are giving the whole picture. The 2 for £8 offer is a mix and match across a number of lines - they are actually showing 30 lines on their website. So you could have a stella at £6.04 and a San Miguel at £4.02 and it comes to £8...still a reasonable saving.

By including some cheaper beers they are giving much more choice in the brands customers can mix and match...it sounds like a good idea to me as I buy by taste/brand not by the nominal value. If they only included beers over £5 then the range would be greatly reduced then I couldn't mix and match with a preferred - but cheaper - beer.

Would you prefer that supermarkets dumbed down their offers and excluded product lines because some people are too stupid to work out that combining 2 cheap beers won't give a huge saving?

Sorry I don't think your complaint is valid.

LandyAndy

I must admit I bought a multibuy booze offer this week at Sainsbury's and then realised I had saved 2p. More fool me.

geordie_joe

LandyAndy wrote: »

I must admit I bought a multibuy booze offer this week at Sainsbury's and then realised I had saved 2p. More fool me.

Could have been worse, you could have bought the single ones then realised you could have saved 2p if you'd bought the multi-pack.

VenusFlytrap_2

I've noticed this recently in a couple of supermarkets with 4 pint milk cartons - Asda and Morrisons both have an 'offer' of 2 for £3... individually they are £1.53, so a gigantic saving there of 6p!

I don't know what annoys me more, that supermarkets try to con people like this or that people are stupid enough to fall for it!

Jewel_2

I spend ages looking for the best buy. Although I do find it irritating that my time is sometimes more valuable than the amount I am saving! What really gets me is that it's difficult to compare sometimes. When you have the same product and some prices are given per 100g and others are given per item, or loo roll - some per sheet and some per roll. All very confusing. Treated my OH to some Robinsons lemon barley water yesterday - I could hardly bear to put it in my trolley as there was no offer on it!