A MASSIVE investigation of tens of thousands of supermarket loyalty priced products has revealed whether they offer genuine savings.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) checked out 50,000 items to see if they were cheaper than retailer’s usual prices.
And the regulator found 92% of the pool of items did in fact offer customers legitimate discounts.
This was despite a survey of customers finding 55% believed this would not be the case.
Loyalty pricing is when retailers or other chains offer customers discounted products if they sign up to a rewards scheme.
A number of supermarkets run loyalty pricing, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.
But the CMA launched an investigation into supermarket loyalty pricing after it was asked by consumer website Which? which found some loyalty priced products may not offer genuine value for money.
Its analysis of the 50,000 products, which come with loyalty prices found little evidence of supermarkets inflating prices to make loyalty promotions seem like a better deal.
George Lusty, interim executive director of Consumer Protection at the CMA, said: “We know many people don’t trust loyalty card prices, which is why we did a deep dive to get to the bottom of whether supermarkets were treating shoppers fairly.
“After analysing tens of thousands of products, we found that almost all the loyalty prices reviewed offered genuine savings against the usual price – a fact we hope reassures shoppers throughout the UK.”
The CMA’s deep dive saw it analyse loyalty priced products at five major supermarkets: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Co-op and Morrisons.
It found customers can save an average of 17-25% by buying loyalty priced items at these retailers.
But, the regulator also concluded supermarkets could do more to open up loyalty schemes to a wider group of people, including those without smart phones like the elderly and under 18s.
It also found while loyalty priced products are generally the cheapest available, shoppers could save money by buying the same product at a different retailer.
Remember, if you want to compare prices across different supermarkets, there are a number of price comparison sites you can use.
These include Trolley, Price Spy and Price Runner which let you compare prices on thousands of products.
Responding to the CMA’s investigation, Sue Davies, Which? head of food policy said: “Two-tier loyalty pricing has become a common practice across retailers.
“It’s therefore reassuring that the CMA has found that most of the prices it looked at across supermarkets offered genuine savings against the usual price.
“However, it stresses that it is worth shopping around as they aren’t always the cheapest option.
“Which? has also looked at prices for thousands of products and repeatedly found examples of loyalty price offers that aren’t as good as they seem.”
She added: “The CMA should continue to monitor loyalty pricing practices across key consumer sectors beyond supermarkets and be ready to use its new powers to take action against retailers that don’t comply with consumer law.”
The CMA’s investigation comes after a Which? found millions are being locked out of cheaper prices at the supermarket because they can’t sign up to the schemes.
The consumer website found three major restrictions mean customers can’t get the best prices.
Which? discovered shoppers are being shut out due to minimum age restrictions, lack of UK residency or address and not having an email address or app.
A separate investigation by The Sun found a number of retailers that only let shoppers sign up to their loyalty schemes through an app, including Lidl and Asda.
Customers aren’t just locked out of supermarket loyalty schemes either.
Fashion chain H&M only lets customers sign up to its membership scheme online or by downloading the store’s app.
Fast food fans can only sign up to McDonald’s MyMcDonald’s scheme via an app too.
As part of the CMA’s investigation, it also carried out a major survey of customers to find out what they thought about loyalty pricing at supermarkets.
It revealed 76% of shoppers have not changed where they shop just because of the introduction of loyalty pricing but 24% now compare prices across different retailers more.
Meanwhile, 55% believed supermarkets to be inflating prices on loyalty priced products for non-rewards scheme members.
In addition, 43% of those surveyed said they thought it was unfair loyalty scheme shoppers pay lower prices than those not signed up to rewards schemes.
You may have heard of loyalty pricing, but do you know what it is?
Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons are three supermarkets that offer customers signed up to their loyalty schemes exclusive discounts – known as loyalty pricing.
All three retailer’s schemes, Nectar Card, Clubcard and More Card, are free to sign up to as well.
The obvious advantage to loyalty pricing is that you can save potentially hundreds of pounds a year on your shopping, all without spending a penny.
But different supermarkets offer exclusive discounts on different products, so do some research before doing your shopping.
Either way, be wary of supermarkets artificially inflating prices to make it seem like you’re getting a better deal than you are.
A previous investigation by consumer group Which? found Sainsbury’s and Tesco have increased the price of everyday goods then slapped loyalty prices on them thinking customers wouldn’t notice.
Either way, it’s worth shopping around though.
Supermarkets change their prices all the time, sometimes multiple times daily, so it’s worth researching to ensure you’re getting the best price on an item.
You can use websites like Trolley to see how the major supermarket’s compare in terms of price on any number of goods.
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