{"id":19186,"date":"2024-11-27T11:43:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T11:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19186"},"modified":"2024-11-27T11:43:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T11:43:55","slug":"loyalty-cards-offer-genuine-savings-watchdog-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19186","title":{"rendered":"Loyalty cards offer genuine savings, watchdog says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Supermarket loyalty cards do offer genuine savings, the UK’s competition watchdog has found, but it said people should still shop around.<\/p>\n

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) looked at 50,000 products on loyalty price promotions across Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Co-op and Waitrose. <\/p>\n

It found “very little evidence” that supermarkets were inflating their “usual” prices to make promotions look like a better deal.<\/p>\n

However, it found that despite discounts being legitimate many shoppers still did not trust that the offers were cheaper.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While the CMA also said its review “has shown that loyalty prices aren\u2019t always the cheapest option, so shopping around is still key”.<\/p>\n

“We know many people don\u2019t trust loyalty card prices,” said George Lusty, the CMA’s interim executive director of consumer protection. “Which is why we did a deep dive to get to the bottom of whether supermarkets were treating shoppers fairly.”<\/p>\n

Loyalty pricing is where there are two prices on a product – a “normal” one and a lower price for customers who have a loyalty card or app.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It said about nine out of 10 loyalty promotions it looked at offered genuine savings against the usual in-store price.<\/p>\n

Customers made an average saving of between 17% and 25% across the five supermarkets the CMA examined.<\/p>\n

The watchdog also surveyed shoppers and said that nearly 70% of those it spoke to think loyalty pricing offers decent savings.<\/p>\n

However, there remains a significant amount of mistrust among consumers towards loyalty promotions. <\/p>\n

The CMA said: “A significant proportion – 40% – say they do not trust loyalty prices are a genuine saving on the usual price.”<\/p>\n

A common view among younger people was that non-member prices in a promotion were higher than normal.<\/p>\n

More than 70% of 18 to 29-year-olds thought that the price for those without a loyalty card or app had been bumped up, said the CMA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While the report examined other supermarkets, it did not draw any conclusions about two of the UK’s largest – Asda and Aldi.<\/p>\n

Asda has a loyalty points scheme which customers can redeem for vouchers but it does not offer lower prices on a product for those with a loyalty card.<\/p>\n

Discounters Aldi and Lidl were not included as they don’t sell online, and don’t stock a wide enough range of branded products to do a like-for-like comparison, the watchdog said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Consumer group Which? said two-tier pricing had “become a common practice across retailers” so it was “reassuring” that people could make genuine savings.<\/p>\n

However, it has also studied thousands of products, “and repeatedly found examples of loyalty price offers that aren’t as good as they seem” according to Sue Davies, Which? head of food policy.<\/p>\n

She also said there are concerns that “millions of consumers are being excluded from accessing lower prices due to loyalty scheme restrictions” because they have not signed up to a card or app.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Tackling<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

How to save money on your food shopping <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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