Making a mint out of foxing buyers

hybernia

Mother in law is elderly, a bit frail, a bit short-sighted but fiercely independent. She loves to pick up a bargain. And why not.

Today I happened to pop round as she was returning with a neighbour from shopping in town. I helped her unload her bags, including not one but three packets of "Fox's Glacier Mints". I know Fox's hasn't made them for many many years. Fox's doesn't exist. But yes, their mints are nice. But why buy three bags?

MIL pointed to the big red over printing on the bags: 50% FREE!! "Only £1 a bag," MIL said. "From PoundSaver. So that's quite a saving."

I took a closer look at the bag. In much smaller print it says: "50% more than the 130gm bag."

And yes. It was. 195gm. At the bargain-basement 50% FREE price of £1.

I didn't mention to MIL that Tesco's -- and just about every other supermarket I've ever shopped at -- also sells Fox's Glacier Mints for £1. For 200 gm bags.

Pretty clever then, whoever-owns-Fox's now: produce three sizes of bag, at 135gm, a claimed 'standard' 190gm, and 200gm. Create a sales promotion via discount shops like PoundSaver. Sell the unwary a 50% FREE!! £1 bag that actually contains less than they'd buy for the same price in supermarkets.

I know a 5gm difference is trivial. Multiply it by several million 5 gms though -- the saving to the manufacturer as a result of its so-called sales promotion -- and the business is doing very well, thank you, out of people like my MIL who trust the large print and by reason of age aren't readily able to read the small print.

Fox's Glacier Mints. Mint bags or scumbags? I know which one I think this company is. Grrrrr.:(

savemoney

You have to keep your wits about your these cheap shops arent always cheaper

LadyDee

I think it was inevitable that manufacturers would begin to produce for the "pound shop" market. The original pound shop relied on short dates, overstocks and bankrupt stock to fill their shelves, but there are only so many of those. That very astute Northern chap who started it all off was a very clever man, made his millions and sold up at the right time. What was his name? Loved his mum :-)

forgotmyname

Realised this a few years back, ASDA and TESCO can be cheaper than the £1 shops.

eddddy

hybernia wrote: »

MIL pointed to the big red over printing on the bags: 50% FREE!! "Only £1 a bag," MIL said. "From PoundSaver. So that's quite a saving."

Hopefully they said "50% Extra Free", as opposed to "50% Free"

Ignoring everything else, 195g for the price of 130g is definitely not "50% free".

Mr.Generous

I do find the unit pricing information very useful on labels, where three different sizes of a product are for sale. On coffee for example you will get 2 or 3 different size jars and a refill bag. With the various offers and extra free its easier to just look at which offers the lowest price per 100g and buy that.

owen_money

Sounds like a lot of 'humbug' to me