The tactic of reducing products on promotion by more than 50% is making a mockery of headline pricing and could lead to retailers needing help to rebuild trust and instil confidence in shoppers, according to specialist FMCG and retail sales and capability consultancy, Sellex.
Sellex Managing Director, Anthony Carr, says that if the era of cheap food is over and retailers are making solid profits, they at least need to go the extra mile to be up front and fair to shoppers.
Food inflation has become a “clickbait” opportunity for media, says Carr, but with consumer confidence in retailers at its lowest point since Which? started looking at it in 2012 and with consumers more concerned about food pricing than ever, eagle-eyed shoppers are becoming more aware that all is not as it appears.
“People paint a picture of trust in supermarkets spiking during the height of the pandemic, though I’m not sure whether this is reality or people looking back through rose-tinted glasses,” explains Carr.
“Either way, people need transparency and straightforwardness more than ever right now. Retailers have a vital role to play in protecting the shopper and holding suppliers to account on what they promote and how they display it.”
And this, says Carr, means retailers and suppliers needing to get their governance right, whilst still striving to do the right thing.
“Climate change is going to increase food price volatility and ultimately drive food prices up,” he continues, “but when some promotions are back to pre-pandemic levels despite the headline price in the stratosphere, something is simply not right about it.”
But there are steps retailers can take to help to rebuild trust and instil confidence in shoppers. These include reserving secondary display opportunities for the pack configuration in the range which truly represents the best value for money in that range.
“A well-known condiments brand has been very aggressive in this space recently, placing their mid-size SKU on secondary display, with a cheaper, larger alternative in the standard location,” adds Carr.
Other steps to take include ensuring that larger packs off-promotion do actually represent best value – kitchen cloths more expensive as a 20 than 2 x 10 will have been fooling less-savvy shoppers for months.
Carr also suggests putting the cost per/g on all SELs and Barkers without fail, saying he hopes that that the frequent absence of this is simply a retail discipline issue, rather than a flagrant attempt to confuse the shopper.
Established in 2002, Sellex has a strong heritage in growing sales and profit for blue chip organisations. It trains, consults and co-creates future ways of working to leave businesses stronger. It has also taken a fresh look at what Commercial Confidence needs to look like in Sales and Customer Development, and has developed a new set of commercial competencies, whilst also delivering cutting-edge consulting projects across Revenue Growth Management, Category, Channel and Commercial Organisational Effectiveness.
