'Big Four' supermarkets criticised on price claims

A Panorama investigation finds that supermarkets' price cuts don't always offer the best deal. And we've got evidence that Tesco's Big Price Drop isn't saving us much.

On Monday night, the BBC broadcast a Panorama documentary, The Truth About Supermarket Price Wars. It found that the big supermarkets aren’t being entirely honest when it comes to their price cuts.

We’re supposedly in the midst of a supermarket ‘price war’ but are the savings on offer really that spectacular? The Panorama investigation found prices increased just before promotions, ‘value packs’ that were more expensive than buying items individually and more.

We’ve also received some research from supermarket price comparison site mysupermarket.com that shows Tesco’s Big Price Drop isn’t quite as good as they’d like you to believe.

Tesco’s Big Price Drop – not so big after all
Tesco launched its Big Price Drop back in September, but it was criticised by a Which? investigation that found prices had been increased just before the campaign kicked off. The BBC investigation backs this up, highlighting its medium whole roast chickens.

They rose from £4 to £5 for just over two months before the Big Price Drop, before dropping down again to £4.

And data we’ve received from mysupermarket.com shows that the majority of the 1.4% reduction in prices happened in the first week after the Big Price Drop. And mysupermarket.com also says that the scrapping of double Clubcard points on 24 October essentially meant an average 1% loss for customers.

In fact, on an average basket of 60 items, the average saving in the five weeks after the Big Price Drop was just £1.22. And by the third week of the Big Price Drop prices were higher than the previous week.

Bigger packs that cost more
The BBC investigation found that Asda was charging £3.20 for a 1kg tub of Clover spread, 20p more than buying two 500g tubs separately. At Morrisons, the difference was a whopping £1.70.

No Wow from Asda
A check of the ‘Wow’ deals on Asda’s website revealed that 11 of the items on sale had been at the same price for six months. Astonishingly, four items were actually more expensive than they had been before.

Asda removed the items after the BBC contacted them with their findings.

Tipping the scales
When it came to comparing loose fruit and veg, there were also some strange inconsistencies. At Asda, three loose red onions cost 86p a kilo. Put them in a bag and they cost £2.85. Similarly, five looses bananas at Sainsbury’s cost 42p but buy them in a bag and you’ll pay £1.

Compare prices on your supermarket shopping at mysupermarket.com

Do you think supermarkets play fair on price? Or is it a case of 'buyer beware'? Share your thoughts in the Comments box below.

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