'Confusing' pricing policies costing Milton Keynes shoppers dearly in supermarkets, say experts

Consumer champions Which? tracked the prices of 10 popular groceries including Coca-Cola, own-label semi-skimmed milk, Dairy Milk chocolate, Nescafe instant coffee and Weetabix at the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Tesco.

Over their three month scrutiny, they found some versions of the same product could cost up to three and a half times more per unit - in the same supermarket.

In one example, up to 17 different-sized versions of Coca-Cola were available with prices varying between 11p and 50p per 100ml at Tesco.

That’s 346% more for a shopper who buys four 250ml glass bottles (£5) than one who picks up a 1.5 litre bottle (£1.68).

Now Which? is calling on supermarkets to make pricing clearer as it finds confusing pricing practices are making it difficult for shoppers to work out which products are the best value amid the cost of living crisis.

They found a staggering seven in 10 shoppers (72%) could not work out the cheapest item.

Which? also found that the price per 100ml of own-brand semi skimmed milk varied between 6p and 13p at Morrisons – that’s 133% more for a shopper choosing a 500ml bottle (65p) than one picking a 2.27-litre one (£1.27).

Researchers visited branches of major supermarket stores Asda, Iceland, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose) and found a multitude of problems.

They discovered fruit and vegetables such as pears and tomatoes which, depending on the pack size or variety, were given a price each, per pack, or per 1 Kg - making it difficult to compare.

There was also confusing terminology. Peppers at Lidl were priced both per ‘piece’ and ‘each’, while at M&S ‘each’ was used to mean both a pack of four pears and also a single pear.

There were also many times when the price per unit was clearly displayed but did not apply to a special offer or promotion.

And there were numerous examples of pricing that was hard to read or missing entirely – such as for a pack of tomatoes in Tesco, Penguin bars in Waitrose, some soft fruit in Morrisons and vine tomatoes in M&S.

The findings show that there remains poor quality control at the way pricing is displayed

Which? also found that there are also big differences with how supermarkets use unit pricing online.

When they looked at the nine major supermarket websites they found all displayed unit pricing for standard-priced and discounted items. But researchers were unable to find unit pricing for multibuys.

At Tesco it was found discounts are now offered through Clubcard Prices, which do not show unit pricing.

Sue Davies from Which? said: "At a time when food prices are a huge concern, unit pricing can be a useful tool for shoppers to compare and choose the cheapest groceries but unclear supermarket pricing means the vast majority of people are left struggling to find the best deal.

“Small savings can add up and make a big difference but unless supermarkets make unit pricing much more prominent, legible and consistent - as well as displaying it on their promotional offers - people will continue to risk missing out on getting the best value.”