UK shoppers are cashing-in on price label blunders, with two in five (41%) consumers having personally saved money on products that have been mis-labelled in-store, or know friends or family that have, according to new research by retail technology provider Brother UK.
The study of 2,000 consumers and 250 SME retailers, which explored the frequency of in-store pricing errors, revealed customers saved an average of £38 on a mispriced item, with a lucky 5% saving as much as £500.
More than a third (38%) of retailers admit to mis-labelling prices on products at least once a day, with 28% saying it happens multiple times per week. Only 7% said they never mis-label prices.
According to Citizens Advice, a customer has no right to buy an item at the label price if a mistake has been made. Yet, more than two thirds of retailers (67%) believe they must honour the cost shown to comply with consumer rights. Just 17% of the retailers surveyed said they don’t honour incorrect pricing at all.
Simon Brennan, senior end user client manager, at Brother UK, said: “Pricing errors happen in retail for a multitude of reasons, from human error and miscommunication, to technology not working efficiently. Lucky consumers have cashed-in on such mistakes at a cost to retailers. But other shoppers are clashing with retailers over their refusal to honour pricing mistakes, or from clear price labelling errors forcing them to fetch store assistants for clarity.”
Disgruntled customers
The study also found how some consumers were left frustrated over mis-tagged goods. Three in five (60%) retailers admit to having had to deal with a customer disgruntled by a decision not to honour incorrectly low prices.
Customers vented their frustrations on pricing-mishaps in the study. Nearly a third (29%) said how staff should take more time ensuring information is clear and correct for customers. A quarter (24%) of consumers said pricing errors reflect badly on a retailers’ brand, with one in five (19%) agreeing that it undermines the customer experience.
Retailers plan to shore-up labelling systems
The study found that nearly three quarters (74%) of retailers plan to invest in labelling technology, to boost efficiency and minimise error over the next 12-months. Only half (51%) currently use a label printer linked to smart devices.
Handwritten labels being illegible was the top reason cited by retailers for pricing errors (31%), followed by the technology not printing labels in the correct format (29%), and staff unintentionally rolling out the wrong pricing by mistake (28%).
Nearly three in five (57%) retailers also suspected colleagues of deliberately mispricing items to personally benefit from cheaper goods, or to help someone else, according to the findings.
Brother UK completed the study as it launches a new partnership with technology reseller and software developer BarcodeGenie. The pair’s label printers and cloud-based labelling system links directly with a retailers’ product file to ensure store staff always print the right pricing to minimise costly mistakes.
Simon Brennan, senior end user client manager at Brother UK, said: “Minimising error is a big part of why retailers are turning to labelling technology. But many are also looking to boost efficiency, to save employees time, to have more visibility over pricing rollouts, and to be more reactive to margin opportunities.
“Specialist labelling technology from BarcodeGenie in partnership with Brother makes shelf-edge ticketing, reduce to clear, mark-downs and shipping label printing faster, simpler and more accurate for retailers.”
Adam Corcoran, managing director at BarcodeGenie, said: “The cloud-based LabelGenie system enables head office to digitally issue labels for use in multiple stores, ensuring campaigns are rolled out effectively and accurately. Reporting tools also help managers to build accountability by understanding what’s being printed across multiple sites with greater visibility. This allows them to maximise revenue opportunities from price changes and sales discounting.”
