The Competition and Markets Authority has ruled that supermarket loyalty schemes do offer customers genuine value for money, following an investigation into claims of price manipulation.
The CMA said that its review of over 50,000 loyalty priced products found that 92% offered customers genuine savings against the recommended retail price.
The watchdog’s report found “very little evidence” of the grocers artificially inflating the “usual” prices to make their loyalty scheme offers more compelling – despite 55% of surveyed customers thinking this is what the supermarkets had been doing.
The regulator said that customers could make between 17% and 25% savings on a shop if they bought only loyalty priced items at the five main grocers surveyed: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose and Co-op.
As part of its findings, the CMA also said it found no evidence that the grocers were breaching consumer rights laws by collecting and using customer’s data as part of the loyalty scheme sign-up process.
CMA interim executive director of consumer protection George Lusty said: “We know many people don’t trust loyalty card prices, which is why we did a deep dive to get to the bottom of whether supermarkets were treating shoppers fairly.
“After analysing tens of thousands of products, we found that almost all the loyalty prices reviewed offered genuine savings against the usual price – a fact we hope reassures shoppers throughout the UK.
“While these discounts are legitimate, our review has shown that loyalty prices aren’t always the cheapest option, so shopping around is still key. By checking a few shops, you can continue to stretch your hard-earned cash.”
A Tesco spokeperson said: “Clubcard Prices has always been about offering genuine savings and rewards to our customers, and we are pleased that this has been evidenced by the CMA. We are always working to find the best possible deals for our customers, and with around 8,000 products included in Clubcard Prices every week, we’re helping customers to save up to £385 a year off their groceries.”
The investigation was opened following calls from consumer group Which? who claimed that supermarket loyalty schemes were “not all they are cracked up to be”.
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