Vent-Lack of items on special offer!!!

knightstyle

Why oh why don't shops get extra stock in to cope with demand when there is a well advertised special offer????

Azari

Special offers are intended to get people into the shop so that they will spend money on the things that are not on special offer.

That and to give the overall impression that the shop is full of good value merchandise.

This was always particularly apparent with Somerfield who would frequently have very attractive special offers - and big gaps in their stock where these were sold out within the first couple of days (of a two week cycle) and not replenished until the offer was ended.

You may notice that in cases where the 'offer' is less attractive they will have extra stock.

pmduk

My local Tesco is poor for this. All the stock suddenly reappears the minute the price returns to normal.

munchpot

If the special offers are advertised anywhere, on TV, Radio, in a leaflet or by emil to you, then if you feel you want to you can complain to the Advertising Standards Authority. www.asa.org.uk
I believe that one of the code rules is that they could fall foul of the code if they haven't ordered enough stock or continue to advertise when the sticks have run out.
The ASA don't have any powers to fine but rely on bad publicity for the company if they are found in breach of the codes.

bris

Sorry to sound rude but most of you don't know how the food industry really works.
Most ingredients, (cocoa, coffee, tea, flour, etc) are a commodity with a market value that fluctuates on a regular basis. This is a world supply chain not just a UK one.

Manufacturers, like Cadburys in this case, will buy the cocoa by the hundreds of ton's at a set price, this might be say £1200 a ton. They use up this to make their product's and price it accordingly. They now need to stock up on cocoa again, this could be 3 months later, but the market has changed, the cocoa price has now gone up to £1476 per ton(todays price). This is why prices can go up more than inflation, it's supply and demand, the ingredients control the price, this is why you might think it's a massive rise compared to inflation, but it's market forces at work.

Azari

bris wrote: »

Sorry to sound rude but most of you don't know how the food industry really works.
Most ingredients, (cocoa, coffee, tea, flour, etc) are a commodity with a market value that fluctuates on a regular basis. This is a world supply chain not just a UK one.

Manufacturers, like Cadburys in this case, will buy the cocoa by the hundreds of ton's at a set price, this might be say £1200 a ton. They use up this to make their product's and price it accordingly. They now need to stock up on cocoa again, this could be 3 months later, but the market has changed, the cocoa price has now gone up to £1476 per ton(todays price). This is why prices can go up more than inflation, it's supply and demand, the ingredients control the price, this is why you might think it's a massive rise compared to inflation, but it's market forces at work.

So why, in my example above, is it only the Tesco plain chocolate that has suffered a ~ 40% rise?

I know what you say is correct on occasion - I remember it happening to orange juice, for example, when all the supermarkets hiked the cost of their value brand - presumably because the cost of the imported concentrate from which it is made had risen. It's not always the answer, though.

pmduk

bris wrote: »

Sorry to sound rude but most of you don't know how the food industry really works.

Actually it's you who ignores how the supermarket industry works in practice. They increase a price from, say, £1. to £1.30 and then a few weeks later make a huge song and dance about reducing the price to only £1.10! Those people who don't keep track of prices think they're getting a bargain. The rest of us know that prices have actually increased 10%.

There may be occasions when commodity prices have risen but then all sizes of a product will increase in price. So often supermarkets will hold some size prices steady whilst hiking prices on the others. Tesco own brand coffee is an example.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

bris wrote: »

Sorry to sound rude but most of you don't know how the food industry really works.
Most ingredients, (cocoa, coffee, tea, flour, etc) are a commodity with a market value that fluctuates on a regular basis. This is a world supply chain not just a UK one.

Manufacturers, like Cadburys in this case, will buy the cocoa by the hundreds of ton's at a set price, this might be say £1200 a ton. They use up this to make their product's and price it accordingly. They now need to stock up on cocoa again, this could be 3 months later, but the market has changed, the cocoa price has now gone up to £1476 per ton(todays price). This is why prices can go up more than inflation, it's supply and demand, the ingredients control the price, this is why you might think it's a massive rise compared to inflation, but it's market forces at work.

Very interesting post but it doesn't actually cover what the OP was asking