Customers angry at lack of cut-price stock

It appears that everything that is advertised may not be sold. Some of the biggest supermarkets in the UK are under fire for not stocking enough of their promoted cut-price deals. Shoppers are angry at the lack of availability of advertised bargains.

A report by the Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM) has revealed that customers hoping to find bargains often find the shelves of supermarkets empty of the goods advertised. Older customers, who often look for bargains, feel let down by the broken promises.

Tesco came out worst with 40% of customers saying they had been let down by lack of availability of promoted items.

As supermarkets come under scrutiny for their tactics, the Office of Fair Trading is also about to release results from its own investigation into the way deals are advertised.

Asda was second behind Tesco, with 25% of shoppers frustrated at the lack of deals they had visited the store to buy. Behind them were Lidl and Aldi with 21% and 19% respectively. Waitrose came out best of the big store chains, with only 2% of its shoppers disappointed at lack of promotion availability.

Director of IPM’s Insight project, Colin Harper, said that retailers were risking their reputation and profits by letting customers down. He said: “Out-of-stocks on promotions destroy faith in stores as well as brands.”

Rather unsurprisingly, Tesco disagreed with the findings. It told Grocer magazine: “We strongly disagree with these findings. We measure availability, including promotions, against the genuine shopping experience of millions of Tesco customers. Customer satisfaction with our availability is at its highest ever level.”

Research from Nielsen, a market research company, suggested that promotions didn’t necessarily work for the stores. Shoppers are sensible enough to switch their normal purchases to promoted items, without necessarily buying any extra. That’s the way to bag a bargain.

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