MSE News: Tesco weakens Price Check guarantee again

antrobus

Welshwoofs wrote: »

I wouldn't know about Asda - there's not one anywhere near here ....

If you 'don't know about ASDA' how can you know that "in some cases Tesco were twice the price of Asda on some products"? I was simply pointing out that in some cases the reverse was the case. All supermarkets put loss leaders in the front window to attract shoppers. Thus every other supermarket will look expensive when you compare the prices of those loss leaders.

I don't have much regard for any of the big supermarket chains either. Like any other business their main objective is to try and obtain as much of your hard earned cash as possible. The same is true of small businesses as well, as it happens. What we need in this country is more supermarkets and more competition, so that people have a choice, and retailers are obliged to compete for business.

And perhaps you should note that by using the Tesco Price Check you can still take advantage of ASDA's special offers if you play your cards right. You can still go to your local Tesco even now and buy your Nobilo Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and Tesco will effectively sell it you at the ASDA price of £5.48 even though the SEL reads £8.69. And you'll get clubcard points on the £8.69 as well.

antrobus

pkempc wrote: »

Over the last few years we have noticed that Mr T prices were getting so high that even Waitrose recently started to price match them - & not because Waitrose were lowering their prices !!! :doh:

Sorry no. Waitrose have had to lower their prices to price match with Tesco. See here http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/articles.aspx?page=articles&ID=216900 It's apparently costing them "up to 200 basis points" - which is 2% and quite a lot in terms of the margin on groceries. I imagine that Waitrose are one of the few people who are relieved by the end of DTD. After all, every time that Tesco cut a price to match an ASDA price, Waitrose was getting burnt as well.

Also note the concluding paragraph from the article - "BrandView.co.uk also revealed the overall price gap between Waitrose and Tesco had increased since the initial pledge. The week of the announcement, Waitrose's price premium over Tesco was 6.9%. This week it was 8.8% higher." So Waitrose have actually got more expensive since they introduced the price match.

zippybungle

antrobus wrote: »

Don't you mean back to ASDA where you can buy whatever's on special offer somehwere else with an extra 10% off?

Unfortunately I don't have an Asda nearby , otherwise yes I would
Tesco have the most unfriendly, unpleasant rude staff.

Zippy x

henlans

What i like about it is that its still advertised in store and they gave customers a 1 hour notice. cheers tesco!

Ten98

Welshwoofs wrote: »

I find it laughable that Tesco is 'blaming shoppers' for this change in their price difference guarantee. Tesco are blatantly and excessively profiteering from those very shoppers they are blaming and the only reason those shoppers were able to get big voucher refunds was because in some cases Tesco were twice the price of Asda on some products! I'd also add that even if they were paying out £100 a month in vouchers to some shoppers, that doesn't equate to them losing £100 a month as those vouchers are were only good to spend in Tesco and getting a customer back in through the door inevitably means they'll buy things which aren't cheaper at Asda too.

And *I* find it laughable that you think Tesco are "profiteering" from their customers. One look at their shareholder statement shows you that their margins in the UK food business are absolutely razor-thin. After staff and overheads they only make around 5-6% profit from their food business, which is proportionately less than the rest of the Big Four, and a lot less than smaller convenience stores or independent shops, get your facts right.

Welshwoofs wrote: »

Why don't Tesco simply match the prices from Asda on their shelves in the first place? Well the cynic in me says that it's because Tesco's long-held policy of aggressive land acquisition and store opening has resulted in many areas not having a lot of choice other than Tesco. In my case, we have a Tesco in the town and the next nearest supermarket, a Waitrose, is 10 miles away. It's a captive audience they can cynically screw to the floor with excessive pricing.

It's not quite as simple as matching someone else's prices, as Martin seems to think.

Both Tesco and Asda employ "Loss Leaders", products which make a loss but entice shoppers through the door. It's unsustainable for Tesco to match Asda's Loss Leaders, and vice versa.

The other issue is that Asda are an Amercian company, and are able to secure much better deals from American suppliers, especially if they can buy in bulk for their American business at the same time. Tesco has a massive Eastern Europe and Asian business, so have similar advantages with European and Asian suppliers, so the two companies' base prices for goods aren't the same. If Asda matched the prices for Tesco's good European and Asian deals, and vice versa, both would be losing money.

Welshwoofs wrote: »

I'm glad I only use Tesco for wine and household products - personally I give my money for food to local producers who actually give a crap about the quality of what they're selling and their customers being happy.

Wine is one of their loss leaders, ever wonder why they put it right at the back of the store, so you have to walk past everything else to get to it?

Fair play to you though, if you are lucky enough to have "local producers" you go for it, most of us don't have the luxury of that option however.

I'm sorry, but Asda is full of council scum, and my local grocers and corner shops are way more expensive than Tesco, only open till 6pm and not great quality either, so I'll stick with the big T thanks

milfhunter

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver wrote: »

I find it ironic that The Rich can get away with tax evasion and rhetoric spouting wonders of Public Service Cuts and yet the canny Shopper is made to pay for his canniness. Any way to punish the likes of Tesco?

It's called playing the system, you know, using tax "avoidance" loppholes (rather than evasion, which is illegal) just like how people were gaming the tesco discounts for their own advantage? Or is it one rule for you, and one for them...


What I do not understand is how do Tesco, Asda, Morrissons, Sainsburys etc, all claim to be the cheapest, and cheaper than ever before, yet every year they announce higher and higher profits? Somebody somewhere is lying, and somebody somewhere is falling for marketing spin.

And who will win the race to the bottom to be cheapest? And at what cost will that be? How many british farms and producers will go under due to price pressure from these big supermarkets? How much extra CO2 will be used transporting cheap products from abroad to fuel our incessant hunger for a bargain?

What happens if one of the supermarket steps out of this race to be cheapest? It's already well known and has been said on here that Tesco treat their staff badly, will we the paying customers expect their staff to take pay cuts to enable us to seek out more bargains?

So many questions, but i doubt the majority would even understand - as long as they get "cheap" deals, They're alright Jack.

milfhunter

Ten98 wrote: »

I'm sorry, but Asda is full of council scum, and my local grocers and corner shops are way more expensive than Tesco, only open till 6pm and not great quality either, so I'll stick with the big T thanks

Ooooh get you and your elitism!!! :eek: Nice view from that high horse you have up there?!!

I never realised that there was such rivalry and snobbery between the customers, let alone the stores themselves!!!

taxiphil

Veteran MSE-ers will note that this is the third time Tesco has introduced a policy and subsequently thrown its toys of the pram when - shock horror - customers actually took advantage of that policy!

Round One was the original "R&R" policy whereby customers received a full refund if the price at the till was higher than the price stated on the shelf. Thanks to MSE, Tesco got spanked for many an Xbox 360 and Sony PSP, and eventually decided it was easier to axe the policy than to get to grips with the rocket science of charging the correct prices at its tills.

Round Two was the large numbers of bonus points offered on certain items, which often outweighed the purchase cost of the items. When some customers starting accruing large points balances, Tesco had a hissy fit and decided it was entitled to wipe out all their contractually-awarded points. They wheeled out that old phrase to the media, "not within the spirit of the scheme" which in Tescospeak translates as "we think we're above the law and can change the terms after the contract has been formed, but we'll still keep the money you paid us."

And now this farce... "we're the cheapest... we guarantee it... errrr, well, that's unless you actually put our guarantee to the test, and we'd rather you didn't do that."

Most laughable is the pomposity of the statement they've published today on the Price Check page, which seems to pour indignation on the idea of entrepreneurial spirit by the proletariat.

Coming from a ruthless monolith that's ripped the heart out of the British high street and created a complex web of companies in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying corporation tax, their sanctimonious tone is utterly breathtaking.

Welshwoofs wrote: »

Tesco could easily have used the data from the DTD to lower the prices of those items they were paying out on. They didn't. Why? Because many more customers would have been buying them at full price than those who were making use of the DTD guarantee. They didn't lower because it was more profitable for them not to do so; the 'ooo poor us, nasty savvy customers have been exploiting us' line is simply baseless PR guff to shift the blame for them downgrading a customer loyalty benefit.

Absolutely spot on, I couldn't have put it any better.

Still, this has been a PR stunt that's backfired on them beautifully and exposed their double standards like never before.

corbyboy

Well it was good while it lasted as others have mentioned. I think the maintainers of the spreadsheet deserve a warm congratulations too.

I hardly think a company that was selling toothpaste at £2.48 a tube at the same time as Asda were selling it for £1 can accuse anybody of profiteering.

I have two £20 vouchers at the moment waiting for me to use. If they refuse to accept these then I will probably go mental.

vikingaero

Usual guff from Tesco - put up/shut or heat/get/out/of/kitchen.

We spend £150 per week if we shop at Tesco or £110-£120 if we shop at Asda. Just because Clubcard points are offered doesn't mean we'll buy from them. I pride myself in being a Shopping !!!!!! - no loyalty to any supermarket apart from the cheapest.