Shoppers bamboozled by cacophony of supermarket ‘special offers’
Britain’s supermarkets have been accused of impairing the ability of shoppers to pick the lowest price groceries by burying bargains within a sea of multi-packs, special offers and buy one get one free deals.
This follows research conducted by the Money Advice Centre which invited 2,000 shoppers to identify the best value deal of four offers – a feat successfully accomplished by just 40 volunteers.
The government-backed financial experts went onto find that 76 per cent of respondents spent more than they intended as a result, purchasing an additional £11 worth of goods after being enticed by seemingly attractive offers.
John Penberthy-Smith, customer director for the Money Advice Service, commented: "The problem is that quite often we see a special offer at the supermarket and we don't want to miss out - so we throw it into our trolley without really thinking about whether it is a good deal or whether we actually need it. Often deals can be difficult to understand and compare with other prices."