UK: Supermarkets face probe on pricing

The UK’s supermarkets are to face an investigation from the regulator over claims of “confusing and misleading” pricing tactics and special offers.

Consumer body Which? has used its legal powers to make a “super-complaint” to the Competition and Markets Authority over “dodgy multi-buys and baffling sales offers” that “creates the illusion of savings that doesn’t exist.”

It also identified pack sizes that shrink while the price stays the same and seasonal offers where, for example, Easter or Christmas products are sold at a higher price months, only to appear “on sale” during the festive period.

It said consumers – who spend £115 billion on groceries annually – could be collectively losing out on hundreds of millions of pounds a year due to such practices and that it only took the step to contact the CMA after it repeatedly raised the issue with the industry during the last seven years, but nothing had changed.

Full Content: The Guardian

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