Cheaper to buy Fresh than Reduced

I joined a group of people as they surveyed the ‘Reduced to Clear’ section at Tescos. Each shelf was full. If I was going to pull off a quick survey, I would say no one was fooled or even slightly tempted, amongst these people.

More expensive than buying fresh

One man backed away, shaking his head so I asked: ‘not tempting then?’ and he said ‘cheaper to buy fresh.’ The other two  people moved on without taking anything from the reduced shelves.

It seems as if Tesco are getting desperate and they are responding to this by ignoring the intelligence of their audience. What does this cost them?  How much food ends up in landfill? Would it not be more profitable to make the reduced price attractive enough for someone to buy, instead of risking them going away thinking ‘I’m not that stupid. Stupid Tesco’?

To show how Tesco must think we are a bit thick, I spotted a special display of Nouvelle toilet paper that had been on special promotion the week before.

I know I can go to Sainsbury’s or Asda and spend under £5 on a pack of 12 quality rolls of loo paper. This brand, Nouvelle, was displayed near the entrance with the alluring price of £2.89 or thereabouts.

9 rolls of bog roll for £5. Bog off (in its original meaning).

Now Nouvelle enjoyed its own stand at the end of the household items aisle. This is like saying ‘remember us from last week?’ Why were they on special display when they were back to full price?

(Thank you WordPress for making me edit, rotate and save the image 5 times for it to work!).

I can see what they’re doing here:

• They put this brand on promotion at an attractive price, and display it by the front entrance so no one can miss it.
• They then put the same brand on its own prominent stand, so you think it’s still on promotion.
• They put the price on a big ‘I’m special’ sign.
• They put the price on the less obvious side of the display so the first thing you see from the front of the store is the brand on its own special stand and think ‘oh, great. It’s still on promotion.’

Who’s fooled by that? OK, I very nearly was, but have learned to keep a beady eye on these ‘recession despair’ tricks.

Below are three more examples of ‘Reduced to clear’ items which make them more, or almost as, expensive than if you had bought them before the use by date.

2 x £2.89 = £5.78 - vis a vis 78p more than buying fresh

(My oh my, WordPress, we are struggling with our image editor today.)

It is insulting that corporates such as Tesco really think we are this dim!

Oh, and WordPress, not only does your editor not recognise big brand names, you don’t even recognise your own name. Nuff said.