Ocado's Multibuy Calculation To Customers' Disadvantage

alanq

Ocado advertises Pringles with a "Buy 2 Get 2 Free" offer.

Original Pringles are £2.48 and Cheese & Onion £2.30 each. So buying 4 of each I expected to be charged 2x£2.48 + 2x£2.30=£9.56. Instead I found that Ocado was going to charge me 4x£2.48 + 0x£2.30=£9.92 .

Is this tactic common with other items from Ocado and other supermarkets?

SoWhatIsNext

Offers like that are always the cheapest one free.

So for buy two get two free, you'll pay for the two most expensive items and get the two cheapest free.

Likewise with buy four get four free, you'll pay for the four most expensive items.

alanq

SoWhatIsNext wrote: »

Offers like that are always the cheapest one free.

Fair enough if I had been buying just 4 items I would have expected to pay for 2x£2.48 and not 1x£2.48+1x£2.30 or 2x£2.30 but that was not the case.

I expect the retailer to group items to the best price for the customer not for itself.
So (£2.48+£2.48+[STRIKE]£2.48[/STRIKE]+[STRIKE]£2.48[/STRIKE])+(£2.30+£2.30+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE]+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE]) and not (£2.48+£2.48+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE]+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE])+ (£2.48+£2.48+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE]+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE])

SoWhatIsNext wrote: »

Likewise with buy four get four free, you'll pay for the four most expensive items.

The offer was buy two get two free not buy four get four free.

Nada666

SoWhatIsNext wrote: »

Offers like that are always the cheapest one free.

No they absolutely are not - not in supermarkets.

In supermarkets the deductions are interleaved otherwise it makes their pricing policies unusable. This is a mistake by Ocado and the shopper should receive a refund.

eddddy

alanq wrote: »

Fair enough if I had been buying just 4 items I would have expected to pay for 2x£2.48 and not 1x£2.48+1x£2.30 or 2x£2.30 but that was not the case.

I expect the retailer to group items to the best price for the customer not for itself.
So (£2.48+£2.48+[STRIKE]£2.48[/STRIKE]+[STRIKE]£2.48[/STRIKE])+(£2.30+£2.30+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE]+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE]) and not (£2.48+£2.48+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE]+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE])+ (£2.48+£2.48+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE]+[STRIKE]£2.30[/STRIKE])


The offer was buy two get two free not buy four get four free.

Yes - I agree with you.

FWIW - the tills in Waitrose do the same thing. But you can get round it by doing 2 separate transactions (i.e. buy the 4x£2.48 Pringles in the first transaction, then buy 4x2.30 Pringles in the second transaction.)

However, M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury instore tills all do the calculation fairly in a single transaction - in the way you describe. (I've never tried the online equivalents.)

geordie_joe

Originally Posted by SoWhatIsNext
Offers like that are always the cheapest one free.

Nada666 wrote: »

No they absolutely are not - not in supermarkets.

Of course they are, when did you ever see an offer for multi buy products where it said "Most expensive one free"?

In multi buy offers where the items are different prices it's always the cheapest one free.

Tesco Mediterranean Dip Selection 400G

Any 3 for 2 Cheapest Product FREE valid from 30/3/2014 until 22/4/2014

Tesco Finest Jersey Milk Cheddar

Our Tesco Finest range has been improved. See it here>
Any 3 for 2 Cheapest Product FREE valid from 2/4/2014 until 22/4/2014

Tesco 4 Breaded Chicken Breast Fillets 600G

Any 3 for 2 Cheapest Product FREE valid from 2/4/2014 until 13/5/2014

eddddy

geordie_joe wrote: »

Of course they are, when did you ever see an offer for multi buy products where it said "Most expensive one free"?

Hi geordie joe

I think you've misunderstood the problem. It happens when you buy multiple lots of multi-buys.



To illustrate the problem with a simpler example, lets say:

Luxury beans cost £2
Standard beans cost £1

Special beans offer: Buy any 3 for 2, cheapest product free

And you buy 3 luxury beans and 3 standard beans.

You would expect 1 luxury beans to be free, and 1 standard beans to be free (and that's what M&S, Sainsbury and Tesco would give you).

But Waitrose and Occado give you 2 standard beans free.

So M&S, Sainsbury and Tesco would charge you a total of £6, but Waitrose or Ocado would charge you a total of £7.


Does that clarify the problem?

geordie_joe

eddddy wrote: »

Does that clarify the problem?

The problem didn't need clarifying.

In your example both types of beans are part of the same offer, and it is the cheaper ones you get free.

In your example you have bought six tins of beans and you are entitled to the 3 cheapest free.

The till does not know, and there is no way of telling it which beans you want to pay for and which ones you want free. It just gives you the cheapest ones free.

In your example, if you bought 4 luxury beans and 2 standard beans you would get 1 x luxury and 2 x standard free.

You cannot say to the till "I am buying 2 x luxury beans and getting the other one free, then I am buying 2 x standard and getting the other one free"

The till just sees you have got six tins of beans and it gives you the 3 cheapest free.

It has always been like this and always will. The only way around it is to go through the checkout twice, buying one set of beans in each transaction.

Cycrow

Actually in most cases the tills are smart enough to group the offers so it works out the best way for you.

eddddy

geordie_joe wrote: »

You cannot say to the till "I am buying 2 x luxury beans and getting the other one free, then I am buying 2 x standard and getting the other one free"

The till just sees you have got six tins of beans and it gives you the 3 cheapest free.

It has always been like this and always will. The only way around it is to go through the checkout twice, buying one set of beans in each transaction.

Hi geordie joe

You are completely wrong! Try it at M&S, Sainsbury or Tesco.

As Cycrow says, their tills are obviously smarter than you realise.

dlusman

Waitrose / Ocado are the only ones that I know that group the products in favour of the store. Everywhere else groups in favour of the customer.

And geordie - I suggest you go back and read the example provided by edddy properly.