http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010 ... ets-prices

I love the statements that do everything but answer the main criticisms

Businesses aim to make profit.

Yeah, but these two aren't Apple

Seriously, unless an item was ridiculously cheap to begin with, tripling the price is just taking the p1ss

Looks like a typical bit of lazy sensationalist journalism to me

Unless you look at pricing over 6-12 months and the price has clearly doubled just for December then it's a non story imo.
It's pretty obvious that something on offer at half price in November is likely to double in price if the offer finishes in December.

All supermarkets run short term price promotions and complaining that prices go up when old offers finish while new offers start (and are understandably advertised) is scraping the barrel imo.

Having said that more regulation of some of our supermarkets activities would be a good idea.

a little bit of info to file away
when VAT went back up by 2.5% most retailers added 2.5% on all goods this was regardless of any VAT being charged or have/had being charged on some items

so even goods that have or had no VAT on them were raised 2.5% and the excuse for the price rises, yep VAT increase
that's why the price inflation index for January was at 2.8% …

No, I'm sticking with cynical on this one since it all just happened in the busiest week of the year, and especially since it's from a former director general of the OFT who previously conducted official inquiries into supermarkets. Not to mention the article states 'in his view'.

It shouldn't have been too hard for the supermarkets to knock this one out of the park...

EDIT - I should have explained better that the opinion in the article was that of Bridgeman, not the analysts for the data they collected

NSS. WTF would anyone actually expect, trying to shop a few days before Christmas? It's simple supply and demand.


Actually, all promotional details are perfectly clear if you look on the shop's website.

Thrifty shoppers shop intelligently to take advantage of offers as they become available. If you shop with no thought at the very last minute when demand is highest, it should come as no surprise that all the bargains have gone.

Asda is not a frickin' charity

It's not like anybody here is naive about such matters, but it just sticks in my craw when they're the ones telling us 'Every little bit helps' and so on, or printing ads about how they're cheaper than each other... I think it's tragic that they had to get all defensive over it because their 'brand' was under threat, not because some of their prices had tripled.

It all just reminds me of expense-claiming MPs, 'We're totally sorry... we got caught gouging, but it's all totally within the rules!'

They didn't sound overly defensive to me. They just sounded honest, and perhaps slightly miffed that a random bunch of idiots had stated the blindingly obvious as if it was something shocking.

Peak times are more expensive. You pay for convenience, and bargains must be hunted for.

The report is symptomatic of the "it's so unfair" spoiled brat syndrome you see so much of in this country. I find it slightly nauseating.

But we don't actually know they're a random bunch of idiots (which seems to be a failing of the Guardian investigation in not naming them I'll admit), and just because it's blindingly obvious doesn't make it any less nasty when you're in the store at Xmas trailing the kids about or whatever. Especially if you've been told you can't wear your PJs



There isn't much 'skewed and unrepresentative' about the sample of products from what I can see (even more so in the runup to Xmas), especially when you consider the mark-up on some of them

I can't be the only one that's been in Tesco and wondered why something as simple as a bag of their own brand jelly beans has suddenly jumped 40p in price (it could be back down next week, and that can't have much to do with supply and demand), never mind actual food stuffs

You would have to be an idiot to think that they would be competitive when everyone else is raising prices when there is high demand. The real trick is to be counter cyclical. Buy things when no one else is buying. Last year I bought some Christmas decorations in February, when the buying frenzy is over. The same applies to Christmas food, buy the food in the autumn and freeze if necessary. The antidote is to plan and if necessary switch so that you are not ripped off. Food is best bought in season so avoid those pricey strawberries in January.

Have you viewed the full lists of price changes this sample is taken from

The majority are not really Xmas related and without knowing the prices over the previous 6-12 months I'd say that most of the larger increases were on products returning to their "normal" price after being on offer.

While it might be considered cynical to end the offers before Xmas, I suspect Tesco/ASDA would simply say they were trying to encourage people to purchase these products before the main Xmas trading week.

If you did so then you would not have really been impacted by the increases. I did and avoided the mad panic that is Christmas week.

That sounds fair enough to me. I don't know ASDA, but Tesco always show the date on the display when the currently shown special offers (half price etc) will end, which I find very useful.

I think there would be far more of a media circus if the supermarkets were only pretending to have a half price sale. The point is, sales end. Afterwards prices go back up. As I said, it's not like you aren't told (by Tesco at least) when the sale will end.

Yip, that's why I put 'even more so' to indicate that it was a worse time for shoppers in that regard