Which? says supermarkets are confusing shoppers with unclear product pricing
Which? is calling on supermarkets to make pricing clearer to help shoppers work out which food and drink products are the best value.
In a recent survey, the consumer champion found that seven in 10 people were unable to work out the cheapest item in a range of real-life examples from stores.
As part of an investigation, 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 Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Tesco for three months.
It found that some versions of the same product could cost up to three and a half times more per unit at 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.
Which? also found that the price per 100ml of own-brand semi skimmed milk varied between 6p and 13p at Morrisons.
Researchers from Which? also visited branches of nine major supermarket stores, including Aldi, Asda, Iceland, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose, to see how unit pricing is working in practice.
The organisation said it found a multitude of problems including confusing terminology or pricing that was hard to read or missing entirely. It also found that when the price per unit was clearly displayed it did not apply to a special offer, promotion or other reductions on price.
