July 2013 Grocery Challenge

nqtraderman

Regular users of www.mysupermarket.com will know that if you click on any product you can view a Price Graph which lists the current price along with the Highest and Lowest it has been on sale for.

Here's a case in point :

I like Whyte & Mackay Whiskey and often look out for special offers on the 1 Ltre bottle. It tends to be on sale in all the 4 supermarkets around the £17 - £22 a Litre price range. However every couple of weeks, one or more of the supermarkets will drop the price to £14 - £15 per Litre bottle. I have a price Alert set up on MySupermarket so they can let me know.

However, their Price Graphs do NOT reflect the actual High and Low of this product, they never have. They still quote the Lowest Price as £17 even though it is regularly on sale at £15 ie; more than 10% lower . So I exchanged emails with them recently asking MySupermarket why their Price Graphs are not accurate and that the High and Low prices they quote on their comparison site are misleading to shoppers.

Here are the emails :

Spotted a mistake in the following item: Whyte. I have reported this to you before and you said you had found a bug in your code. Clearly the issue is still there. Why is the history graph of Whyte & Mackay Whiskey 1Litre saying the lowest its been is £17 ?

It was on offer at £14 for 1 Ltre at Sainsburys just 3 weeks ago, the offer lasted for 2 weeks, call them and check. Are we not to believe the history graphs on your site ? if so please confirm as I feel the need to inform Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert if that is the case

Thanks for contacting mySupermarket.
Can you also please let me know what the mistake is? I am a newer member of staff and not familiar with this issue. Let me now and I'll have
it reinvestigated. Our pricing graphs are an average price across all the stores which is why is doesn't show the lowest price of £14 in Sainsbury's specifically.

Look forward to hearing from you and seeing the issue resolved.
Kind Regards,

*Terri
* Customer Support Representative
www.mySupermarket.co.uk

Hello
the mistake is that the Graph does not show the actual fluctuations of the product prices accurately, ie the whiskey in question was sold by Sainsburys at £14 a litre for some time under a special offer, that they repeat quite frequently, at least twice that I know of .. as I buy it,

So explain to me what is the point of a price graph showing the highest and lowest price of a product if its the AVERAGE across Supermarkets ? Not all Supermarkets have the same offers at the same time so the graph would be meaningless .. indeed flat lined.

Surely customers want to see the LOWEST price its been on sale so they can make a rational choice to buy or to wait for a special offer to match the lowest price historically ?

Are you sure your comment in this regard is accurate ? If it is then I think your website should inform every visitor of this fact when they view every product price graph.

sincerely

[FONT=trebuchet ms,sans-serif]Hi,

Terri was correct in saying that the price graph shows the average prices across all the supermarkets. Our system aggregates the prices over the last 6 months to give our users a pricing guide, we cannot include every single promotion that was offered across all the stores, that's why we use the average.

Kind Regards, [/FONT]
Support Representative
www.mySupermarket.co.uk

As you can see from their responses shoppers CANNOT believe the prices they quote in their Price Graphs - so beware

tessie_bear

hi been shopping today and spent a fair bit but i will see how it lasts before i start griping about prices...having a chill for tea with cous cous as it wont take a lot of cooking

planning a curry for tomorrow and i got a chicken to roast at some point this week...i find the heat plays havoc with my meal plan so taking a couple of days at a time

take care tessa

pixiedust09

Went to A*di's today to do my weekly shop and went over budget :eek: spent £64.93 which is £14.93 over and i've still got a couple of things to get. In my defence though I did get sun screen, bug stuff, 2 x dispoable bbq's and bbq food for the weekend, as we're having a weekend away to the New Forest in the caravan. I was organised last night and made two victoria sponges, (1 for freezer) and got some yogurt on the go, whilst dinner was cooking. I WILL BE BETTER WITH MONEY NEXT WEEK, still have alcohol to buy this week though .

lushlifesaver

Just running in to report a spend of £3.11 in Morrisons.

Garlic puree @74p
0.28kg mushrooms @ 76p
1 onion @12p
double concentrate squash @ £1.49 (going through more of this than usual with the heat)

Now, I have 5 NSDs planned for this week so that will save me a chunk then it's only 1.5 weeks to pay day

sugarpuss27

Hi all, hope you are all having a good day. Had 3 NSD grocery wise but spent 8.89 for some toothpaste, bin liners, apples, satsuma's and bread in Sainsbobs and the discount shop today. Have little one for respite care this weekend coming so may be some adjustments.
Meal Plan this week
Today - Pasta dish of some sort with whatever is in the fridge
Tues - Gammon joint from freezer with Veg
Wed - Cold gammon, HM Wedges peas or beans
Thurs - Shepherds Pie (Mince from freezer) Veg
Fri - Leftover Sheps Pie for hubs, Me and little one - Cheesey Pasta
Sat - HM Pizza and salad
Sun - Roast Chicken, veg etc
Will adjust signature shortly. Done

Shortie

Afternoon everyone Mr Shortie went shopping on Saturday and we are now left with a few pennies over £25 to get us to the 19th July

He got everything on the list, didn't deviate, got the right brands etc. I think I just underestimated how much it was going to come to whoops.

Against the odds though I think we have an okay chance of managing it this month - Mr Shortie got in everything we needed for this week and we have in plenty of meat for the next two weeks and a decently stocked store cupboard too. We'll need to top up on milk, bread and fruit next weekend, and I'm hoping not much more as we have quite a lot of tins and pasta in (so we might get away without topping them up next weeked).

We have plenty of dog food and I hope enough cat food for the next two weeks

dylan2011

Well, it has been one of those weekends where it just didn't go to plan.
Had a big row with the OH on Friday evening, dinner didn't go to plan, and we ended up with chinese takeaway. £16.80 gone
Saturday had to get Milk, and fabric softener, ended up getting some crusty rolls for lunch as well - £4.80
Then went out yesterday, took picnic, but ended up buying a couple of extra bits totalling £8.70
Then Milk, Nappies, Lettuce, Tomatoes and Baby Wipes Today - £9.70
Will update sig now. Got to do a proper shop tomorrow, as all of these little bits are adding up.
Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine.

Bluegreen143

dylan - hugs and hope you and OH mad eup. Sometimes thes ethings happen so no point beating yourself up about the spends.

Will post meal plan later and update sig, meant to do it last night. I will add the carrot cake cupcakes to the index then too.

Shoey1610

Never mind Dylan2011, sometimes life just doesn't go according to plan, no point aiming for perfection eh?

I made 12 crusty rolls today and froze half of them for the rest of this weeks lunch. Its the first time I've baked bread in this hot weather, left the dough to prove whilst I took DD to school, came back and it had grown like some sort of dough monster up over the sides of the bowl and was escaping. Made nice rolls though, I had one warm with butter and cheese for lunch.

It will be leftover chicken curry for tea tonight. I have to go to Sainsbury's tonight though to get some petrol and change for tomorrow, so I'm anticipating a small spend on something or other, but I'm going to try and make it small!

Islandmaid

Hi all,

7th NSD :j:j

Using chicken leftovers and some chirizo bits in the fridge for a ricey paella type thing with some manky onions and peppers - bit of a bodge job but chucked some smoked paprika in which makes anything taste good:p

Sposed to be making scones tonight, but my enthusiasm is fading fast