supermarkets - more price fixing and hiding?

[Gaspode]

did an online shop with Tesco and one of the items Coca-cola 24 cans wasn't shown on the price comparison listing that came through as price compare results.
I thought it was odd that it was missing so I took a wander through the big 4 Asda, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Tesco.

seems a nifty dodge is in place purely by coincidence?

Asda do 30 can multis (best deal @ £7.00), Morrisons do 8's, Tesco 24's and Sainsburys do 18's.

the only comparable size they all do is 8 cans and quelle surprise all are doing those for 2 for a fiver.

anyone thinking 'well big deal - they can charge what they like'

sure, of course they can but given that they were caught before fixing milk prices and fined heavily for doing so, it would appear to me that this is a much more subtle approach for them to not dip into each others profits at the expense of the average shopper.

this is just on Coca-cola and I bet that other products are done in a similar way.

 

[cheesyboy]

They do exactly the same for nappies - all stock different multiples.

It's a bit sneaky when they use it to avoid paying out on a price match promise.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

It probably also allows them to imply that the nappies/drinks are cheaper in their store than any other: "Nobody has 24 packs of coke for a price this low!".

Caveat Emptor and all that.

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

I'm not sure you know what price fixing means or, if proven, entails OP.

You may also want to think about the leverage that suppliers can place on retailers regarding minimum price point, particularly (and probably only) when dealing with companies of a size you mention in your post.

 

[TheVoice]

Retailers have had their own SKUs for popular products long before the price matching war came into effect. The likes of Poundland etc also have their own size of products so that customers think they're getting better value than they are.

 

[XeNoN89]

They do this with washing machine tablets etc as well.

 

[deuse]

I'm not sure you know what price fixing means or, if proven, entails OP.

You may also want to think about the leverage that retailers can place on suppliers regarding minimum price point, particularly (and probably only) when dealing with companies of a size you mention in your post.

Fixed

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

Fixed

You didn't fix anything. You stated a çorrection which in this context is almost certainly without foundation but in most other contexts would contain a great deal of weight.

Do you see why this is doing your one word argument a disservice?

 

[Orionaut]

If a group of Shops, Plumbers, Garages, whatever get together and agree a minimum price for supplying their goods and services it is called "Price Fixing" and they can suffer serious legal consequences.

If a group of train drivers, Steel workers, whatever get together and agree a minimum price for supplying their goods/services it is called a Union and is considered a right!

Why are these two types of "Price Fixing" treated so differently?

 

[Colbaker]

They are all as bad as each other,went in Asda the other day for some tomato soup. They had a display area selling individual cans for 60p each, I normally buy a 4 pack bit that was £2.60 so I initially thought ill buy 4 individual cans and save 20p, only per chance did I notice one of the individual cans sitting next to a 4 pack and it became obvious that the single can was smaller the one of the multi pack cans. By a while 100ml!

It is really starting to wind me up, no wonder people are shopping at lidl etc, in my opinion this is trying to pull the wool over their customer eyes and I don't like that.

 

[xGBHxPegasus]

I always find Coke prices vary. Sometimes at Costco its £9 for a 30 pack but the other week it dropped to £6 for 30 cans.

Pepsi and other drinks usually sit around £5 for 24 all the time.

 

[CREATIVE!11]

Welcome to capitalism,

Where we are all in the gang bang together... except we're the ones taking the 12 inch *****s up the pooter and people like donald trump are the ones wielding it.

 

[MisChief]

Coca cola is bad for you mmkay..

I'm not too bothered about the different pricing between supermarkets. I only really shop at two supermarkets anyway, but I'm quite a savvy shopper and I buy things based on 1) if the items are on offer or not and 2) whether the items are worth it even with the offer price (checking price per ml/kg etc)

 

[Avenged7Fold]

In cases of these drinks companies and the major supermarkets, the prices are pretty much decided by the supplier (cocacola). The supplier also decides on most of the special offers and rotate them between supermarkets to have consistent sales. The supermarkets seem cheap when the offer is on but that is only because the offers rotate, the supplier don't expect a large proportion of sales from their non sale price as the non sale price is only there to make the sale price seem good, hence why there is always an off on one of the supermarkets.

This isnt price fixing. I dont doubt they price fix to a small extent but when your talking about high selling products like fizzy drinks from Cocacola or Smirnoff from Diageo, supermarkets do little else other than nod and accept their money.

 

[Freakbro]

In cases of these drinks companies and the major supermarkets, the prices are pretty much decided by the supplier (cocacola). The supplier also decides on most of the special offers and rotate them between supermarkets to have consistent sales. The supermarkets seem cheap when the offer is on but that is only because the offers rotate, the supplier don't expect a large proportion of sales from their non sale price as the non sale price is only there to make the sale price seem good, hence why there is always an off on one of the supermarkets.

This isnt price fixing. I dont doubt they price fix to a small extent but when your talking about high selling products like fizzy drinks from Cocacola or Smirnoff from Diageo, supermarkets do little else other than nod and accept their money.

If this is the case, then I wonder if this little ruse is implemented by Cocacola themselves, as if they did have the same comparable multipacks in each supermarket, it wouldn't matter which one the offer was on in, as they would all be price matched, so their drinks would always being sold at the sale price.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Special offers like half price offers and BOGOF are not price matched automatically (for Tesco at least, that is who i use to work for). the different size packs allows multiple offers in most stores eg:

sainsbury might have 6 packs on offer but the rest at full price
Tescos will have 12 packs on offer and the rest on full price
Asda would then match on a different sized multipack or go through a period of no offers until the next promotion change.

To cocacola, the sale price is actually just the standard price they expect to sell their products at. The full price is more of a marketing tool. Obviously it should be the other way round.

 

[ttaskmaster]

If you have any concerns, check in with your local Trading Standards team.
Most of their offices fine supermarkets on a monthly basis for things like Misleading Price Indications, with Tesco apparently being the most frequent offender. It probably won't stop them as the fine is only about 5 grand a time, which is like a few minutes of business to them, but as they say - Every Little Helps.

 

[Kronos]

Supermarkets have always used creative pricing, 'Which' have been campaigning for years against the practice. But hey we did not get the title 'Rip Off Britain' for nothing don't you know.

 

[Jim99]

I bought a 24 pack in Morrisons a couple of days ago for £6 :/

 

[Avenged7Fold]

I suppose if you didnt want to be mislead by supermarkets and large suppliers, you can always go to your local farmers market/cornershop, pay more but have accurately represented prices and quantities.