Make the price promises work for you!

2kadmin

All the supermarkets seem to offer price promises, but you never seem to get back the massive savings you think you should? Here is why, and how to beat it.

Firstly you need to understand how it works, it’s all physiological the supermarkets want you to buy their offers which are costed and based on the relationship they have with their suppliers. This allows them to use these ‘savings’ you make on these purchases to offset more expensive items elsewhere.

An Example, let say you shop at Tesco and I’ll compare it to an ASDA shop. (this works with all the major brands though)

TESCO
5 x 2ltr Pepsi Max @ £1.98 each
1 x 35 Persil tabs @ £10.00 Buy one get one free
1 x 35 Persil tabs @ £0.00
Total Shop £19.99
Today you saved £4.87

ASDA
5 x 2ltr Pepsi Max @ £.98 each
2 X 35 Persil Tabs @ 9.98
Total Shop £24.86
Voucher for £4.87

So Tesco offset the saving from the Persil tabs against the ‘cost’ of the Pepsi, and ASDA offset the saving on Pepsi against the Persil. So if you went to ASDA for the Pepsi and Tesco for the washing powder you would be much better off. Supermarkets know this and often discount smaller packs, to discourage you from buying the larger item as it’s on offer somewhere else. They place limits on these price promise promotions to ensure they only give the money back on larger weekly or monthly shops, maximising the 'oh its a bargain so I'll buy two' effect.

Here is how to save money without visiting all the stores.

Rule 1 – Take two trolleys into the supermarket, in one you place all the stuff you've been tempted to buy as it’s on offer, and in the second your ‘normal’ non offer items.

Rule 2 – Buy what you need irrespective of the offer (it might well be on offer somewhere else and using this method you make the saving anyway).

Rule 3 – Check out and pay for these trolleys separately, the non-offer trolley first as if you supermarket of choice gives a discount on your next shop or vouchers, and you can use that on the second trolley, some make you wait 24hrs. So you might need to wait until next week but they savings soon add up.

Tip : Ensure you spend enough to qualify for the price promise on both trolleys.

Tip : if you and your partner can't get near the supermarket without a domestic or you are on your own, a shopping basket hung on the back of the trolley, or a large bag within the trolley works. (Supermarket staff are pretty used to people paying for part of the trolleys contents separately)

Still puzzled? Let’s go back to our earlier example. Neither of these shops would qualify, but it is a simplified example of how a larger shop would work.

Tesco Offer trolley
1 x 35 Persil tabs @ £10.00 Buy one get one free
1 x 35 Persil tabs @ £0.00
Total £10.00

Tesco Non-Offer trolley
5 x 2ltr Pepsi Max @ £1.98 each
Total should be £9.90, but the price match will see that drop to £4.90

ASDA offer trolley
5 x 2ltr Pepsi Max @ £.98 each
Total £4.90

ASDA Non-Offer trolley
2 X Persil Tabs @ £9.98
Total Should be £19.96, but the price match will see that drop to £10.00.

Total shop from both stores would be £14.90

By splitting the shop you have ensured you benefit from the cheap offers and don't allow the supermarket to offset those savings on the more expensive items.

Hopefully this might help a little bit with your shop, average savings seen in my office is £5.00 a week!

robin58

Another tip, especially in Sainsbury's.

Do not include yellow label stickered items in with your brand match shop.

They take the saving off the total cost of the shop lowering the money you would get back.

For example. You buy a reduced loaf of Allison wholemeal at £1. They will compare the full price of £1.50 against the brand match against Asda who do it for £1. You will loose the other 50p against any brand match coupon you will get.

aau1

robin58 wrote: »

Another tip, especially in Sainsbury's.

Do not include yellow label stickered items in with your brand match shop.

They take the saving off the total cost of the shop lowering the money you would get back.

For example. You buy a reduced loaf of Allison wholemeal at £1. They will compare the full price of £1.50 against the brand match against Asda who do it for £1. You will loose the other 50p against any brand match coupon you will get.

Sorry but that is absolute nonsense

Firstly, if they did compare full price of £1.50 against Asda's price of £1 you would GAIN 50p

Secondly, they actually compare the price you paid with the price elsewhere (ie £1 v £1 = no difference)

If you bought that same Allinson loaf for 10p it would compare 10p v £1 and the system would think you had saved 90p. In that case the brand match voucher from the rest of your shopping would be reduced by 90p

This is the case whether you shop in Sainsburys or Tesco

Thirdly, you say not to buy yellow label stickered items but there is nothing to stop you buying own brand yellow label stickered items. They don't affect your voucher value and they count towards your minimum number of required items

Sunshinemummy

Seems like a lot of work to save £5 a week!

2kadmin

Yes Sunshinemummy you are right, It started as there were a few things on normal shop that we pretty much knew where on-offer else where. So we started not buying them during our weekly shop and visiting other supermarkets during the week.

I had worked out the price match didn't work out a while ago, however having looked further into it I figured this out.. I've got in the habit now and the savings do add up, I saved £22.68 last week, which might not have been as much had I not purchased the offers from the main shopping separately. At least we are not just nipping to such and such as they have x on offer!

Plus you don't have to do it.

Doc_N

Sunshinemummy wrote: »

Seems like a lot of work to save £5 a week!

True - and there's a much simpler way to save a lot more, for a lot less trouble.

Simply switch to buying non-branded equivalents from either Aldi or Lidl and save around 30-40% on everything - no drop in quality, either, and much quicker.

jackieblack

Doc_N wrote: »

True - and there's a much simpler way to save a lot more, for a lot less trouble.

Simply switch to buying non-branded equivalents from either Aldi or Lidl and save around 30-40% on everything - no drop in quality, either, and much quicker.

Good idea in theory, however, in practice, every time I have gone to the bother of driving ten miles further to get to Aldi/Lidl and fought my way around the shop full of chavs all elbowing each other and fighting over the 'bargains', I've still had to stop at Tesco on the way home to get all the things that I couldn't get or were more expensive in Aldi/Lidl

Doc_N

jackieblack wrote: »

Good idea in theory, however, in practice, every time I have gone to the bother of driving ten miles further to get to Aldi/Lidl and fought my way around the shop full of chavs all elbowing each other and fighting over the 'bargains', I've still had to stop at Tesco on the way home to get all the things that I couldn't get or were more expensive in Aldi/Lidl

That's unfortunate for you. Round here, it's rather more civilised. Aldi car park full of Mercedes, BMW etc and the 'chavs', as you put it, tend to shop at Tesco.

Aldi ceased long ago to have the sort of image you're suggesting, which is why Tesco et al are struggling so much.

jackieblack

Doc_N wrote: »

That's unfortunate for you. Round here, it's rather more civilised. Aldi car park full of Mercedes, BMW etc and the 'chavs', as you put it, tend to shop at Tesco.

Aldi ceased long ago to have the sort of image you're suggesting, which is why Tesco et al are struggling so much.

That's nice for you. But obviously not everyone has the same opportunity so telling everyone to "simply switch" isn't so easy nor "a simple way to save more, for a lot less trouble"

And in the town where the nearest Aldi is, their car park also has it's share of BMWs, frequently driven by the most obnoxious chavs in the shop