'Bulk' buying

looksee

I think this has been dealt with before, but its still relevant.
It seems like common sense that if you buy a large container of something, it should be cheaper than two smaller ones of equal weight, less packaging, handling etc.
In Tesco recently 200g jar of Nescafe was more expensive than two 100g jars.
Tesco yesterday it was cheaper to buy two separate packets of Kleenex mansize tissues than a twinpack of identical tissues.
I have also seen a sixpack of catfood more expensive than separate cans.
OK so its only a few cents, but it still does not make financial sense, and there are also over-packaging issues.
Anyone spotted any other examples?

compsys

Tesco are notorious for their 'pricing' issues. I'd keep a close eye on the prices of all of the things you buy there are their bargains and 'price cuts' are usually only marketing tricks. Having said that, this is common is the other supermarket chains as well.

Pythia

12 pouch box of Whiskas cat food in Tesco Dundrum - 4.10.
48 pouch pack of same item - 16.64. (16.39 or less would save money)

I pointed this out to management who ignored my comment. Yes, it's only 24 cent but they are tricking people in a way as you would think bulk buying is cheaper (although I understand it's up to the consumer to evaluate before purchase).

Del2005

Isn't this the reason they now have to give unit prices for items? It's not just Tesco that do it, I've noticed it in all stores.

gerrycollins

I've posted on this several times. There are footfall products priced to get you in the door and they are the same in all multiples SQ and Centra included.

Barrys tea 80's cheaper that equivalent 160's per unit
batchelor beans 225g cheaper that 420g per kg
coca cola,nescafe,whiskas,kitensoft toilet paper4pk,7UP, the list is about 100 items.

there is no deception anymore as the label should have the unit price, thats what it was designed for.

looksee

I am not suggesting it is deception - though the unit price is not always shown - just that it does not make any sense.

wingnut

A lot of it is to do with changing prices from the suppliers, currency fluctuations etc. depending on where the stock is coming from. The store manager isn't going to care, its very common. I worked in a computer store years ago, quite often the newer models came in cheaper than an older model with less features sitting beside it on the shelf.

Ginny

Pepsi Max 2 litres is €1.35 (Its on "discount", normal price is €1.55) the 2*2 litre pack is €3.35

gerrycollins

looksee wrote: »

I am not suggesting it is deception - though the unit price is not always shown - just that it does not make any sense.

its a legal requirement one that can have serious consequences for the retail outlet if it does not display the unit cost even on in store adverts. However remeber that the unit price is not needed for products less than 100mls or 50grm

Magenta

I always go by the unit price, its the easiest way to tell.

rubadub

Pythia wrote: »

I pointed this out to management who ignored my comment. Yes, it's only 24 cent but they are tricking people in a way as you would think bulk buying is cheaper (although I understand it's up to the consumer to evaluate before purchase).

I can imagine they did ignore it, there is no trickery going on at all and nothing really to explain. The only thing going on is people jumping to the wrong conclusion, which is entirely their own fault. These price differences are so common nowadays I would have thought most people would no longer have this faulty assumption.

Bulk is often cheaper due to economies of scale, but also small packets can take advantage of economies of scale. e.g. family sized tins of beans & peas are nearly always more expensive than the standard size tins, (per 100g). There is a far higher amount of standard cans sold so this makes sense to me. I like to see people who blindly fill their trolleys, these idiots mean the supermarkets can afford to have great offers on for people who actually bother to look at prices. The very best offers in tesco are no longer advertised at all, this is going on months now, and many of the "offers" are not really offers at all, but mindless drones fill their trolleys with the stuff. You could consider this similar "trickery", I call it smart marketing and am very happy to see it in place.

gerrycollins wrote: »

its a legal requirement one that can have serious consequences for the retail outlet if it does not display the unit cost even on in store adverts. However remeber that the unit price is not needed for products less than 100mls or 50grm

I have noticed a very large amount of products in tesco have got incorrect pricing per unit/100g listings on them, I am not sure what happens in this case, I did not think they had to display unit costs by law at all. I used to calculate unit costs in my head long before shops had them, and I still do it a lot so spot these mistakes.

smelltheglove

rubadub wrote: »

I have noticed a very large amount of products in tesco have got incorrect pricing per unit/100g listings on them, I am not sure what happens in this case, I did not think they had to display unit costs by law at all. I used to calculate unit costs in my head long before shops had them, and I still do it a lot so spot these mistakes.

Unit pricing came into effect circa 2003/4. I remember as I was head of picing in a supermarket and had the nightmare of relabelling the whole shop.:o

Gerrycollins is correct also, I have also commented on this on a few occassions, a standard price list of circa 100 items send by the main grocery supplier to the main stores. The docket I worked off as far as I recall listed Spars, Centra possibly Tescos, there were 3 or 4 other stores on it and I was in Eurospar. On this listed say 80 items or more HAD to be lower than the listed rrp, items such as Brennans bread, dairygold butter, avonmore milk, beans, peas, ketchup etc. Now it would only be one of each range so say the 225g dairygold was 5 cent under rrp you would almost be guaranteed that the larger size would be in fact less value than the small.

Toots

Ginny wrote: »

Pepsi Max 2 litres is €1.35 (Its on "discount", normal price is €1.55) the 2*2 litre pack is €3.35

I was nearly caught by this today, only that afterreading this thread this morning I checked the price for single units too! Good old Boards, helping me save money!

gerrycollins

rubadub wrote: »

I have noticed a very large amount of products in tesco have got incorrect pricing per unit/100g listings on them, I am not sure what happens in this case, I did not think they had to display unit costs by law at all. I used to calculate unit costs in my head long before shops had them, and I still do it a lot so spot these mistakes.

it a european law dont have the exact details but its more forceable than correct pricing or advertisments laws we have in Ireland.

I was in dunnes when it was brought in and it was seen as a milestone for consumers however recently it look like it has been ignored for the bottom line price regardless of size.

sold

looksee wrote: »

I think this has been dealt with before, but its still relevant.
It seems like common sense that if you buy a large container of something, it should be cheaper than two smaller ones of equal weight, less packaging, handling etc.
In Tesco recently 200g jar of Nescafe was more expensive than two 100g jars.
Tesco yesterday it was cheaper to buy two separate packets of Kleenex mansize tissues than a twinpack of identical tissues.
I have also seen a sixpack of catfood more expensive than separate cans.
OK so its only a few cents, but it still does not make financial sense, and there are also over-packaging issues.
Anyone spotted any other examples?

You are totally right, its cheaper to produce in bulk that is smaller packsizes, but tesco pricing system sometimes does not reflect this as they price according to competition and promotion and not always packsize. They sometimes sell below cost to attract customers and are always watch D stores, Lidl, aldi, supervalue to see what they are offering.

parsi

rubadub wrote: »

I have noticed a very large amount of products in tesco have got incorrect pricing per unit/100g listings on them, I am not sure what happens in this case, I did not think they had to display unit costs by law at all. I used to calculate unit costs in my head long before shops had them, and I still do it a lot so spot these mistakes.

They are obliged to do it. However as they are a large retailer a blind eye is shown towards them.

http://blog.despod.com/2009/06/yet-large-english-multiples-get-away.html

looksee

I don't think I would class Supervalue as a discount store! And I think that, while they did bring down prices overall, Lidl and Aldi are not significantly cheaper than Tesco and Dunnes now. Thats only an impression though, I will have to do another price check!

mikemac

I always check the price per kg or what ever measurement they are using.

TequilaMockingBird

rubadub wrote: »

I can imagine they did ignore it, there is no trickery going on at all and nothing really to explain. The only thing going on is people jumping to the wrong conclusion, which is entirely their own fault. These price differences are so common nowadays I would have thought most people would no longer have this faulty assumption.

Bulk is often cheaper due to economies of scale, but also small packets can take advantage of economies of scale. e.g. family sized tins of beans & peas are nearly always more expensive than the standard size tins, (per 100g). There is a far higher amount of standard cans sold so this makes sense to me. I like to see people who blindly fill their trolleys, these idiots mean the supermarkets can afford to have great offers on for people who actually bother to look at prices. The very best offers in tesco are no longer advertised at all, this is going on months now, and many of the "offers" are not really offers at all, but mindless drones fill their trolleys with the stuff. You could consider this similar "trickery", I call it smart marketing and am very happy to see it in place.


I have noticed a very large amount of products in tesco have got incorrect pricing per unit/100g listings on them, I am not sure what happens in this case, I did not think they had to display unit costs by law at all. I used to calculate unit costs in my head long before shops had them, and I still do it a lot so spot these mistakes.

Unnecessary.

mrroboito

I would suggest that there could be something very simple going on here. If Tesco sell a lot more 100g packages then they can order these in greater bulk meaning that however ridiculous it may appear to you they can pass on their saving on the 100g package to you.

mcaul

mrroboito wrote: »

I would suggest that there could be something very simple going on here. If Tesco sell a lot more 100g packages then they can order these in greater bulk meaning that however ridiculous it may appear to you they can pass on their saving on the 100g package to you.

In a way this is correct but it starts at manufacture level.

Firstly we need to understand that the raw material cost going into many products is only a small percentage of the selling price. - Add in design, testing, manufacturing time, packaging, sales units, packaging units, delivery etc. etc.

Example - cat food cans. 6 pack whiskas @ €3.72, 12 pack @ €8.69. (Tesco)

The 6 pack is the most popular item and sells in the thousands. When in manufacture, the packing machine could stay at full production all day without stopping and it can be sold into any decent size supermarket on full pallets. - Thus cost savings in many areas.

The 12 pack is not so popular and the packing machine needs to be reset to produce a small quantity of the 12 packs. As it does not sell in quantities it is more labour intensive to send out in small batches, probably needs to be loaded onto a mixed pallet and is only stocked by a few stores.

Ecomonies of scale mean that per unit, the 6 packs is cheaper to produce and thus has a lower price. - This thankfully is now passed onto the consumer.