When is a 'regular' price a regular price?

ianuk1

Nescafe coffee (300g) changes price 4-6 time a month at Tesco. Varying from £5.95 to £7.75. How long does a price have to be advertised as a REGULAR price before it becomes a discounted price? I've asked store managers and they say they don't know.

Any ideas?

DE_612183

there is the MRP which is the manufacturers recommended price, otherwise if it's discounted I think the price tag has to say how long it was at the higher price...

ianuk1

I understand that. But how many times can they change a regular in the space of a week/month?

Personally I would of thought a regular price is what it has been for a month at least.

born_again

How many of the reductions were for just club card holders?

eddddy

ianuk1 said:

Nescafe coffee (300g) changes price 4-6 time a month at Tesco. Varying from £5.95 to £7.75. How long does a price have to be advertised as a REGULAR price before it becomes a discounted price? 

Are Tesco actually making claims about previous prices, by saying something like this 

• Was £7.75 Now £5.95

My recollection is that they quote Clubcard prices over time something like this:

• Regular Price: £7.00 Clubcard Price £5.50

• Regular Price: £7.75 Clubcard Price £4.95

• Regular Price: £7.75 Clubcard Price £5.95

If it's the first example, there are guidelines/rules about how long the product was on sale at the "previous" price.

But they are free to change their Regular Price and/or Clubcard Price as often as they want - as long as they're not making any claims about "previous" prices they've charged.

ianuk1

I'm a REGULAR shopper so when prices fluctuate 4-6 times in a given month, I don't call that a regular price. Regular to me means static. At least for a fortnight/month.

How you can change the 'regular' price 4-6 times a month is baffling. And no. These 'regular' prices are without clubcard/offers.

eddddy

ianuk1 said:

I'm a REGULAR shopper so when prices fluctuate 4-6 times in a given month, I don't call that a regular price. Regular to me means static. At least for a fortnight/month.

How you can change the 'regular' price 4-6 times a month is baffling. And no. These 'regular' prices are without clubcard/offers.

So drop the word "regular" and we can just say that "the price" changes 4 to 6 times a month.

(I was using the word "regular" to mean "standard" or "normal" - like if I order a "regular coke" in McDonalds. I don't mean I want cokes on a regular basis.)


In your original post, your complaint seemed to be about "discounted prices".

What type of "discounted prices" are you referring to? Is it the use of terms like "Was" and "Now"?

badmemory

I certainly noticed that one tesco item was on sale for a short time at £7 & then went to £5 clubcard price. When the cc price ended it was £6.70.  What it boils down to is that anything apart from fresh food that has ever had a clubcard price you only ever buy when it has a clubcard price.  Anyone with concerns about these companies should still have a clubcard and only buy using that to buy things with a clubcard price.  We should also bear in mind that it is cheaper to buy using a clubcard when buying something costing £2 than from another supermarket.  It may only be 2p but this is MSE & those 2p's mount up.

ianuk1

Misunderstanding. Let me be clearer.

Ignoring discount/clubcard price.

Over a period of a month, the cost of Nescafe 300g varied 6 times from £4.95 to £7.75. On the BIG yellow signage, each time it changed it claimed these variances to be the regular price.

My question is, how long can you sell something at a regular price before you can change it. Twice a week seems excessive!

Exodi

ianuk1 said:

Nescafe coffee (300g) changes price 4-6 time a month at Tesco. Varying from £5.95 to £7.75. How long does a price have to be advertised as a REGULAR price before it becomes a discounted price? I've asked store managers and they say they don't know.

Any ideas?

I don't think there is any defined rules on this, just that products need to be sold at the reference price for longer in general than they are sold at the special price, at least that's what the ASA suggests.

https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/promotional-savings-claims.html

I'd imagine that as long as Tesco hold the reference price >50% of the time, then they are compliant.

OutdoorQueen

The answer is probably buried somewhere in this guidance for traders: 

https://www.businesscompanion.info/sites/default/files/Guidance-for-Traders-on-Pricing-Practices-Apr-2018.pdf