Warning on supermarket pricing practices
05 December 2011 09:45
Four of the UK's biggest supermarkets could face prosecution over alleged misleading pricing practices, a consumer law expert has warned.
In a report on supermarket price wars for BBC1's Panorama programme, Deborah Parry said many of the pricing tactics used by Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons could potentially be illegal.
A survey of 1,546 shoppers carried out for the programme revealed 42% of shoppers don't trust supermarket offers and discounts, 31% said they were less likely to trust them now than in the past and 47% said they had felt misled by offers.
Last December, the Office of Fair Trading warned supermarkets to stop using misleading pricing practices, or face "enforcement action".
But Panorama found promotions that offered zero savings - such as a product being advertised for £1, with two for £2.
Psychologist Gorkan Ahmetoglu said: "They (offers) actually trigger a biological reaction - the same reaction as when you eat chocolate.
"People just use lots of automatic decision-making and they wouldn't even be conscious of the fact that they are being influenced by the number 'two'. But that will subconsciously prime the consumer to buy a higher quantity."
The most common misleading claim involved "Value" packs or "Bigger Pack Better Value" promotions. In most cases, the claim was printed on the packaging by the producers - rather than the supermarkets - but a 1kg tub of "Bigger Pack, Better Value" Clover spread cost £3.20 in Asda while two 500g tubs cost £3 - making the bigger pack 20 pence more expensive.
All four of the big supermarkets deny misleading or deceiving customers. They say they work hard to keep prices down and point to recent research from the Office for National Statistics which attributed last month's fall in inflation in part to supermarket promotional campaigns.
The Office of Fair Trading told Panorama: "We would be concerned about any misleading pricing or promotions and, with Trading Standards, we will look carefully at any findings Panorama shares with us."
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