Which? has revealed a clever trick that could help you cut costs on your weekly food bill. The consumer watchdog used social media to decipher the often overlooked numbers found in tiny print at the bottom of price labels in supermarkets.
These figures may seem unimportant, but they actually tell you when a promotional offer is due to expire, allowing shoppers to stock up on discounts or deals. By purchasing items in bulk while they’re on sale, you might spend more upfront, but you could save money over time as the cost per unit is lower.
In a demonstration on Instagram using a Tesco price label, a Which? spokesperson said: “There is a secret code which tells you when something is going to end on promotion at Tesco. They put it backwards so it can be a little bit tricky to spot.
“The first digit means the year, the middle is the month, and the last two are the date. That means you can see something cheap, buy one to try, and know how long you’ve got to stock up in bulk if you like it.
“Waitrose is a little bit more upfront with the day and the month, while other supermarkets like Sainsbury’s only show the date a promotion started, though Sainsbury’s typically end their deals on a Tuesday, so that can give you a pretty good estimate of the end date.”
Last year, consumer watchdog Which? issued a warning to customers using supermarket loyalty cards, highlighting tactics by Tesco and Sainsbury’s that allegedly misled customers into believing they were getting better deals than they were.
The organisation shared its insights with the Competition and Markets Authority after scrutinising 141 Clubcard and Nectar card promotions at both supermarkets, tracing their price history for six months.
Which? claimed that roughly one in three (29%) exclusive offers for members advertised as ‘regular’ prices were actually at that level less than half of the time over the examined period. An example cited includes Heinz Salad Cream at Tesco, which had a Clubcard offer price of £3.50 compared to the ‘regular’ price of £3.90.
However, prior to the hike to £3.90 merely 22 days before the promotion, it was sold at £2.99. It had been listed at the ‘regular’ price for only 25 out of the 183 days (14% of the past six months).
Sainsbury’s said at the time that because of inflation, many products had risen in price over the past six months and Sainsbury’s own inflation rate had been behind many of its competitors. It stated: “We make every effort to be transparent about how customer data is used at Nectar. Customers can find more information on this in the privacy policy on our website.”
Tesco pointed out that all of its Clubcard Price promotions followed strict rules. These included looking at how they compared against prices at other supermarkets, to ensure they represented genuine value and savings, they said. The firm said these rules had been endorsed by Tesco’s Trading Standards Primary Authority.
Sue Davies, head of food policy at Which?, commented to say: “It’s not surprising that shoppers are questioning whether supermarket loyalty card prices are really a good deal, as our investigation shows that up to a third of loyalty offers at Tesco and Sainsbury’s are not all they’re cracked up to be.
“As member-only pricing continues to grow, the sector, its pricing practices and who is eligible for membership needs to be properly scrutinised so that all shoppers – including society’s most vulnerable – can benefit and no one is misled into buying things they wouldn’t have usually bought or which isn’t quite the deal they believe it to be.
“Which? is calling on supermarkets to make sure that their loyalty card prices don’t mislead and for the regulator to look more closely at this growing trend towards dual pricing. There is also the important issue of whether it is right for certain groups to be excluded from member-only schemes.”