The Advertising Standards Authority raps Tesco today for suggesting it's cheaper than Asda and Morrisons. As the ASA points out, Tesco has been comparing the prices of products on promotion with normal-price offerings at its rivals. The Tesco promotions were time-limited. And its cheapest items were not everyday foods like eggs and bread but dishwasher tablets and other branded cleaning products. So it was misleading shoppers about its cheapness.
So, you might ask, which is the cheapest supermarket? On the basis of its weekly checks, the Grocer magazine has awarded the title of cheapest supermarket to Asda for the past 11 years. But is Asda really the 'cheapest' - and, if so, is it the best place to shop?
This is where is gets tricky. Asda is struggling to remain the lowest-priced supermarket. With hard-discounters such as Lidl and Aldi breathing down their necks, Tesco and Morrisons (as well as Asda) are slashing the price of staple foods. For the last two weeks, Tesco has been cheapest in the Grocer magazine's check of 33 items - by 4p.(For the record, this was the rundown: Tesco £49.69, Morrisons £49.73, Asda £49.73, Sainsbury's £51.03 and Waitrose £53.33).
So, if the stores are slashing prices, they must be falling, right? Wrong. According to the Office of National Statistics, the price of food and soft drinks jumped by 12.3 per cent in the year to July. Food prices at supermarkets are up by a staggering 30 per cent, according to price comparison site mysupermarket.co.uk. Given that most food shopping is in supermarkets, their prices must be rising for the figures recorded by the ONS to show a rise. So, this is what is happening. In general, most products are more expensive than they were last year. What is falling - briefly, in headline-grabbing promotions - are staples like bread and milk. Staples which, perhaps not coincidentally, excite redtop journalists and appear in the Grocer's table...
For people looking for the cheapest shopping (irrespective of the impact of low prices on labour rights, the environment etc), are there any cheaper options than the big grocery chains? People reckon they get good value from places like Aldi and Lidl and that the food there - almost all one line for each product, thus saving costs - is surprisingly good.
But you might do better still at the local market or farm shop. A survey back in 2006 by the New Economics Foundation reckoned that food prices at Queens Market in east London were 53 per cent cheaper on average than the local Asda-WALMART, which wanted to open there. Riverford in Devon claimed earlier this month - and I can't vouch for this - that its organic boxes were 22 per cent cheaper than the same veg bought at Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose.
Bob Farrand, director of the Guild of Fine Food claims that the multiple retailers are pulling the wool over their customers' eyes with their so-called price wars. "Supermarkets are not as cheap as they would have us believe," he said earlier this month. Now, I suppose he would say that, given that he represents small food shops. Still, there appears to be more than a grain of truth in what he says.
Tesco's are no different to Gordon Brown in pulling the biggest cons on the public for the longest times. Their claim of 53% cheaper than Asda or Morrisons had to be the most ridiculous statement ever made and I wonder just how many people fell for it. Tesco's scams are legion from hiking prices up for a month and dropping them claiming a massive saver to claiming large price cuts on already over priced name brand items. Their biggest con is their refusal to allow casual internet surfing for price comparisons with other supermarkets such as Sainsbury or Asda. Before you can even look at some items (not all) on line, you have to sign up to Tescos 'club' and divulge all manner of private information just so they can suck you in and target you for the rest of your life. In a world of rip-offs, for government Brown is the standard bearer, for flying its Ryanair and for supermarkets its Tesco's. All three use odious, sneaky and underhand tricks to try and fool the public they're on their side, whilst the reality is they're just legalized pick pockets dipping into your bank accounts.
Posted by: Mike | Wednesday, 20 August 2008 at 08:36 AM