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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Expensive groceries; I’m looking at you Ocado

44 replies

RogueV · 30/03/2020 22:05

AIBU, my grocery shop is usually around £100 a week. Just amending my Ocado shop and its come to £140. There are absolutely no offers on whatsoever. None. Everything is full price, no 2 for £3 offers, no discounts nothing! Does anybody else think they are taking advantage? They must be raking it in as a lot of stuff is also out of stock!

Are other supermarkets similar or do they still have offers on? I haven’t been to an actual supermarket in around 3 weeks.

🤬

OP posts:

ainsisoisje · 31/03/2020 10:50

Those' offers' you are referring tend to be loss leaders. They don't make a profit on them, they are there to reward you and attract you to the shop in a given week - they aren't permanent fixtures ever but are negotiated with suppliers each week. They are typically done to tempt you to buy more even a few pounds extra per basket adds up for the supermarkets. Its a responsible thing to do even though it will increase cost per shop

Glennister2612 · 31/03/2020 10:53

It's the suppliers themselves that fund the promos, to increase their market share. But yes, they are taking advantage and removing offers to increase basket spend

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 31/03/2020 10:58

They are taking advantage. Watch their profits soar.

From what I’ve been reading, Ocado are going to lose a lot of their smart pass customers as soon as we can actually get onto our accounts to cancel our payments.

Too many of us are paying a monthly fee for absolutely nothing at the moment.

SarahTancredi · 31/03/2020 10:58

Buying 2 or 3 of things is hardly excessive.

Can understand stopping someone buying 10 packs of bread but using 3 fir 2 on a 4 pack of yogurts is a normal purchase 12 yogurts in a family of 4 is 3 yogurts each that's not even pudding daily for a week...

I dont believe its to stop bulk buying .

Haven't supermarkets been called out before for their offers that arent really offers.

Like when you can buy two large packs of cheese for a fiver but they dont actually have the packs available or the offer is placed under the wrong size pack sonpeowp pick up 2 of the more expensive ones instead. Or it turns out it would have been cheaper to buy them separately anyway.

They are trying to cash in. Of course they are. You can impose a limit without removing offers

CaptainBrickbeard · 31/03/2020 11:05

But people do need to buy more right now as we are eating all our meals at home and not getting lunch at school/work or eating out at all. Fine to stop someone ordering 100 toilet rolls or 36 bags of pasta but multi buying is more necessary if families are suddenly having to make every meal and snack out of the supermarket shop now.

Ocado are making a ton of money with this surge in demand and they are continuing to take £10 a month for ‘unlimited deliveries’ from Smart Pass customers who can’t get any deliveries at all. They should be freezing this charge. Some of my payments to other companies are ones I’m happy to keep going to support struggling businesses who can’t keep turning a profit right now. But Ocado sales are booming. They shouldn’t be taking the Smart Pass charge in exchange for no service.

Shamoo · 31/03/2020 11:07

Promos take effort and additional stock and resource to run and organise - they don’t have time to do that so have pulled them. It isn’t about making more money as the promos don’t generally cost the stores, they simply don’t have the resource to stock and run them.

OmgThereAreNoPlanesAboveMeNow · 31/03/2020 11:14

I think this is a great time to give a local high street a boost and shop stuff from them wherever possible. Loads are now offering deliveries and the veg, milk, egg and bread boxes where I am are very good value and quality

dottiedodah · 31/03/2020 11:14

We are in difficult times ATM ,and Supermarkets are having to ration food ,(had 4 bags of carrots they had to take one away) at the checkout .There is huge pressure on food right now, and everyone is struggling to find what they want .Offers are made when the market is slower and they are trying to encourage customers .There are no Cafes/Restaurants open, and many people are working from home so not going to the staff canteen either .Food is at a premium .

SarahTancredi · 31/03/2020 11:17

But surely 3 blocks of cheese is still 3 blocks of cheese whether they are on offer or not.

If the limits are 3 blocks of cheese and people are buying three blocks of cheese then once it's gone it's gone just like it would be anyway.

Wannabangbang · 31/03/2020 11:20

Think its to stop people hoarding which is annoying as works out expensive without others when ive got a large family. Having to bake a lot of biscuits to keep my kids snacking but even flour is hard to come by now.

BunnytheBee · 31/03/2020 11:23

But surely 3 blocks of cheese is still 3 blocks of cheese whether they are on offer or not.

Yes 3 blocks of cheese will always be 3 blocks of cheese

With regards to offers, though, someone might buy 3 blocks of cheese if they are on offer eg 3 for 2 but might otherwise only buy 2. So it’s encouraging them to buy more than they need as do any of the 2 for £2 type offers or BOGOF.

OmgThereAreNoPlanesAboveMeNow · 31/03/2020 11:24

@SarahTancredi lots of people will not buy 3 blocks at once if it's not on offer. Lots of people do the "Ooo. It's on offer, I should grab more" thing. Or even the "Ooo. It's on offer. I could get that maybe".
I caught myself doing it sometimes too and stop myself now.
Someone has genuine need for them, someone gets more just because it's on offer.

SarahTancredi · 31/03/2020 11:32

But then people just wont buy it the next time surely.

So it levels out eventually doesnt it?

Or just do it on something that people will definitely need anyway in multiple offers.

Like shampoo or something. And just cap it at one offer .

Seems really tight not to give customers something

I mean they happily took money from people a few weeks ago when they bought the shelf full of Pasta now families need a bit of help and nothing...

Shopaholic100 · 31/03/2020 11:35

At a time when a lot of people are loosing their jobs, having pay cuts and general financial worries, surely it would make more sense to share the saving over the products. They can’t bulk buy anyway due to the restrictions, so the supermarkets are profiteering.

Just because people need more food at the moment doesn’t mean they can afford it.

Bishybarnybee · 31/03/2020 11:48

YABU to shop regularly at Ocado. If you need to ask the price, you can't afford it.
As the saying goes.

bettytaghetti · 31/03/2020 11:52

Also have had more mouldy or damaged food than would usually get. But can't easily get refunds without the app working.

SquishySquirmy · 31/03/2020 13:31

I am not sure this is all due to profiteering.
Supermarkets actually have very tight profit margins.
The pound has plummeted... This will have an effect on what they and their suppliers pay.
Extra costs involved in import, transport, and extra staff in the shops (including bouncers in some shops!) Will have an impact.
So they are selling a lot more stock, but paying more to replace it.

flooredbored · 31/03/2020 14:11

I agree. Ocado's sister company fetch are similar. I bought a reduced Christmas dog gift set from them a week or 2 ago that was about 60% off. Went to order another one after the website was down for a few days and they have put it back up to the full Christmas price!

SquishySquirmy · 31/03/2020 14:14

I was in Aldi today and they still had their super 6 offer on, and a few other reductions.
No multi buy offers, but that is a good thing.

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