Jumbo pack ‘bargains’ are more mini-sized

Consumer group reveals that in supermarkets, more doesn’t always mean less when it comes to paying

JUMBO packs at the supermarket are not always better value, research has found.

Consumers might believe that bigger means better when it comes to groceries and that large multipacks would be a cheaper way to get hold of their favourite brands.

But research by the Supermarket Own Brand Guide has shown that is not always the case, and shoppers have been told always to look at the price per 100g or litre to make sure they are not being ripped off.

The consumer service found several instances where the price for the larger version of a product was, surprisingly, higher than the smaller version.

A 12-pack of bottles of Corona beer for example was being sold by Asda for £10, which works out at a price of £2.53 a litre. Someone buying the larger, 18pack of bottles would have paid £18, or £3.03 a litre. A special offer means that two of the former can be purchased for £18, working out far cheaper than the larger version.

Similarly, a 200g jar of Nescafe instant coffee at Waitrose would cost £7.65, but a jar half the size would cost just £3.09 – a price per 100g of £3.83 compared with £3.09. The supermarkets said the pricing quirks were either errors or due to promotional activity.

Martin Isark, of the online guide, said: “Our multibillion-pound supermarkets are taking advantage of shoppers. Sometimes the savings are only a few pence, but on a weekly shop it can add up over the weeks and months.”

But Andy Barr, of Alertr, the pricetracking service, said: “It’s very rarely human error. They use algorithms and pricing platforms and it’s probably a glitch rather than deliberate.”

Supermarkets reacted to the findings. Waitrose said: “We do not have a deliberate policy or strategy to price larger pack sizes higher, and we will investigate.” Asda said: “We always offer great prices week in, week out, whatever the pack size. Alongside our everyday low prices we offer thousands of rollbacks and promotions, which is the case in the specific examples given here, and why customers will always get great value at Asda.”

Sainsbury’s said: “We offer customers a great combination of quality and value and prices go up and down due to a number of different factors.”

Morrisons said: “Normally bigger packs are better value for customers, this one [HP Sauce] is an oversight and we’ll be fixing it this week.”