Misleading shelf labelling on meal deals

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Grumpy_chap said:

Thank you @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

In the case of the meal-deals, I have often thought the arrangement is there to deceive (at worst) or just poorly thought out (at best).
I know my wife has been caught several times as she will pick a sandwich (main), orange juice (drink) plus pineapple (snack).  Then they stock two sizes of pineapple and the large pack is in the meal deal but (main) not (snack)...

The drinks were just in their normal shelf space but the promotion did encourage me to take a transactional decision I would not otherwise as I only really intended to buy one pack at £4.80 knowing I'd be at the wholesalers later in the week and secure the better price.  The "any 3 for £12" encouraged me to buy two of the intended product plus one pack of the new variety.  Then again, once the confusion was identified, I had the option to return all three packs or swap to packs in the promotion but did not do so.  It is an odd thing the "transactional decision not otherwise" as, having done that, the decision to reverse the transaction was not taken even though I then had clear knowledge...

With the last bit they sort of have that covered by including both taking and likely to take, presumably so, in theory, a practice can be stopped before it actually causes "harm". 

With the whole being healthy thing you've got companies like McDonalds selling salads so I guess supermarkets might feel it's a good idea to sell pineapple as a main but I can see why having two products in two sizes as two aspects of the deal would be confusing, as you say hard to tell if that's deceptive or poorly thought out.

There was talk of banning meal deals in Wales, or more accurately banning deals on "unhealthy" food, should it ever go ahead it would be interesting to see what happens with meal deal pricing, everything in the deal is grossly overpriced to make the deal seem attractive and trick you in to thinking you are getting a bargain, as we shoppers like to think we've got a good deal, when really you are paying the going rate, put like that and it starts to sound like a misleading practice. 

The supermarkets put fruit and veg at the front of the store, partly, so you load up on good stuff and then don't feel guilty about buying bad stuff further in the store, it doesn't make any sense to have soft fruit and veg go in the trolley first and then all the heavy bottles towards the end, again it starts to sound like a misleading practice....

Very hard to say where the line drawn really. 

Alderbank

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Thank you @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

In the case of the meal-deals, I have often thought the arrangement is there to deceive (at worst) or just poorly thought out (at best).
I know my wife has been caught several times as she will pick a sandwich (main), orange juice (drink) plus pineapple (snack).  Then they stock two sizes of pineapple and the large pack is in the meal deal but (main) not (snack)...

The drinks were just in their normal shelf space but the promotion did encourage me to take a transactional decision I would not otherwise as I only really intended to buy one pack at £4.80 knowing I'd be at the wholesalers later in the week and secure the better price.  The "any 3 for £12" encouraged me to buy two of the intended product plus one pack of the new variety.  Then again, once the confusion was identified, I had the option to return all three packs or swap to packs in the promotion but did not do so.  It is an odd thing the "transactional decision not otherwise" as, having done that, the decision to reverse the transaction was not taken even though I then had clear knowledge...

The supermarkets put fruit and veg at the front of the store, partly, so you load up on good stuff and then don't feel guilty about buying bad stuff further in the store, it doesn't make any sense to have soft fruit and veg go in the trolley first and then all the heavy bottles towards the end, again it starts to sound like a misleading practice....

Very hard to say where the line drawn really. 

To be fair, when they started selling fresh fruit and veg at all (early supermarkets only sold packets or cans of anything) they put them at the back of the store and kept the tempting high profit sugary stuff at the front, but health campaigners nagged them to bring fruit and veg to the front.

There is no doubt though that supermarkets do try to confuse shoppers.

I happened to spot this today.
There can be no other reason for those red-bordered stickers to have been designed, printed and stuck on except to cause confusion.

It certainly confused me!

screech_78

Alderbank said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Thank you @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

In the case of the meal-deals, I have often thought the arrangement is there to deceive (at worst) or just poorly thought out (at best).
I know my wife has been caught several times as she will pick a sandwich (main), orange juice (drink) plus pineapple (snack).  Then they stock two sizes of pineapple and the large pack is in the meal deal but (main) not (snack)...

The drinks were just in their normal shelf space but the promotion did encourage me to take a transactional decision I would not otherwise as I only really intended to buy one pack at £4.80 knowing I'd be at the wholesalers later in the week and secure the better price.  The "any 3 for £12" encouraged me to buy two of the intended product plus one pack of the new variety.  Then again, once the confusion was identified, I had the option to return all three packs or swap to packs in the promotion but did not do so.  It is an odd thing the "transactional decision not otherwise" as, having done that, the decision to reverse the transaction was not taken even though I then had clear knowledge...

The supermarkets put fruit and veg at the front of the store, partly, so you load up on good stuff and then don't feel guilty about buying bad stuff further in the store, it doesn't make any sense to have soft fruit and veg go in the trolley first and then all the heavy bottles towards the end, again it starts to sound like a misleading practice....

Very hard to say where the line drawn really. 

To be fair, when they started selling fresh fruit and veg at all (early supermarkets only sold packets or cans of anything) they put them at the back of the store and kept the tempting high profit sugary stuff at the front, but health campaigners nagged them to bring fruit and veg to the front.

There is no doubt though that supermarkets do try to confuse shoppers.

I happened to spot this today.
There can be no other reason for those red-bordered stickers to have been designed, printed and stuck on except to cause confusion.

It certainly confused me!

This happens when the original barcode has been corrupted or isn’t scanning. They stick a new barcode on top but they’ve probably only had the reduced stickers to hand. You’ll see it in supermarkets too when an item has a sticker on it reducing it by a penny or something. It’s the barcode that’s an issue. 

Alderbank

I think it's the contractual term 'REDUCED TO CLEAR' that's the issue.

elsien

Although it is very clear what the original price was as well as the allegedly new price,  so there’s no confusion in terms of what you’d actually be paying and the lack of a discount? 

user1977

Alderbank said:

I think it's the contractual term 'REDUCED TO CLEAR' that's the issue.

Not sure what’s contractual about that?

screech_78

Alderbank said:

I think it's the contractual term 'REDUCED TO CLEAR' that's the issue.

Why is that contractual? It says £2.50 three different times on the item. Either you’re happy with the price or you’re not. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Alderbank said:

To be fair, when they started selling fresh fruit and veg at all (early supermarkets only sold packets or cans of anything) they put them at the back of the store and kept the tempting high profit sugary stuff at the front, but health campaigners nagged them to bring fruit and veg to the front.

I think that's fair enough not to have all the sugar loaded stuff at the front but the meat and dairy should go in the trolley before the fruit and veg, same with washing powder, dog food and bottles of drink. 

Attitudes have changed a lot and the stuff that's bad for you is now a treat and you treat yourself when you've been good, say by buying fruit and veg first. 

Alderbank said:

I think they'd say that was a mistake but if a shop was doing this regularly to give the psychological impression the store was a bigger discounter than they actually are that would be something deceptive and likely breach the CPRs. 

sheramber

My local Asda has fruit and at back of store. 

Tesco have it in the middle of a large store.

Sainsbury have it at the front.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

sheramber said:

My local Asda has fruit and at back of store. 

Tesco have it in the middle of a large store.

Sainsbury have it at the front.

Must be a Wales thing, every single supermarket round here has it right at the front when you walk in (apart from Asda, no store for a vast distance to comment on), including the smaller stores such as Coop and Spar. 

I've been at least one Tesco store where the fruit and veg was sort of in the middle but that was larger store and the stuff to one side was clothes, TV's, frying pans, etc so it was sort of at the start of the regular grocery shopping area.