Britain’s supermarkets are in a war of words about promotions, price cuts and bargains.
The combatants are huffing and puffing about price competition and market share, largely for the benefit of the Competition and Markets Authority. But the likelihood of any actual price cuts is considered very low.
'The supermarkets are speaking to different audiences,' said retail expert and professional bargain hunter Max Price. ‘They want to tell the government and the competition authorities that they are not in a cartel – which would be illegal. They want to emphasise that retailing is very competitive and that there is no collusion in price setting.
‘The supermarkets are telling retail customers that prices are on their mind and that they are working hard to keep them low.  Even if they aren’t doing any work to keep them low.  Talk about price wars is cheap, gets free publicity, reassures customers and encourages them to spend, which is just what the grocers want.
‘Let’s take a jar of mixed spices as an example. Customers have no idea what the right price for a jar of mixed spice is. They don’t know what is in mixed spice, they don’t know where it comes from, and they don’t know if Trump’s tariffs have affected the price or not. So the big supermarkets can change the price and the consumer has no idea if it’s fair or not. The only things keeping the big supermarkets in line are the discount chains Aldi and Lidl. Both are four-letter words, as far as the big stores are concerned.
So you can take all the hot air about price wars with a pinch of salt. Which will cost you anything from one penny to £2.42.
image from pixabay
