Hot on the heels of the news that a new front-of-pack nutritional labeling system is to be rolled out in the U.K. during the next 18 months, four supermarket chains have now pledged to improve their shelf price labels.
Aldi, which is German owned, Waitrose and the Co-operative are following Morrisons in signing up to a new deal which should make it easier for customers to compare prices.
British supermarkets today are full of signs which suggest to shoppers that they can get a good deal on certain foods when in reality they can often pay more than they would before the “special offers” were introduced. In fact, some newspapers have been making a feature of printing details of promotions sent in by readers where a bargain is not what it seems when carefully scrutinized.
Retailers in the U.K. are already required by law to display on their shelves not just the price at which a product is offered for sale, but also the unit price of the food or drink inside the pack. The unit price is to allow shoppers to compare the cost of products even if they are in packs of different sizes. (This can alert shoppers to the fact that a “bigger size, better value” sign may not always be accurate.)
However, the legislation does not specify which units should be used, or how prominently the unit prices should appear on the labels. This can mean that the same item, for example tea bags, can be priced individually or per 100 grams, which does not allow customers to properly compare the prices of different brands. And when there is a “special offer” the unit price may not be posted at all.
It may be supposed that seafood on a wet/fresh fish counter may be immune to this kind of labeling. However, certain cuts or individual fish can be offered at specific prices making it impossible for customers to know whether they really are the bargains they seem if no weight is given.
“Hard pressed shoppers want to know at a glance what the cheapest deal is without getting their calculators out,” said Richard Lloyd, executive director of the consumer watchdog Which? which has been campaigning for changes to the existing price labeling system.
A Which? survey has shown that 78 percent of consumers shopped around for their groceries and 43 percent compared prices within stores. Cynics could say that for supermarkets, while promoting themselves as being always on the side of the consumer, a certain amount of confusion over product pricing might not be a bad thing as far as till takings are concerned.
Certainly the top chains seem in no rush to sign up to the agreement. At present, out of the top four supermarkets, only Morrisons is on board. Which? said Sainsbury’s, the number 2 chain, has been working on more transparent labeling during the past 18 months, and Tesco, the number 1 chain, is said to be taking steps towards simpler pricing.
However, Marks & Spencer, although not one of the top four, said it is staying with its current system because it is “simple, consistent and transparent, and our customers have told us that that they are happy with our approach.”
And, as with the changes to nutritional labeling, it is up to the supermarkets themselves to determine whether they will agree to a new pricing system.
Not surprisingly Which? wants the government to reform the existing legislation so that retailers and manufacturers have to follow the same system and make food prices easier to compare. Unfortunately the current government has shown a marked reluctance to take on the large drinks and tobacco companies, and probably wouldn’t want a head-to-head with the country’s biggest food retailers.
So, there may be some behind the scenes arm-twisting, but otherwise it will be left to consumers — as usual — to make the best of the situation.
