Death of the multi-buy promos as they disappear from supermarkets shelves – but are prices lower?

MULTI-BUY promotions are disappearing off supermarket shelves in favour of overall lower prices.

New data shows that “buy one get one free” (BOGOF) and “2 for 1” offers dropped by 29 per cent last year.

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At the same time there was a significant increase in the number of price cuts, according to data by Assosia.

Carina Perkins, buying and supplying editor of The Grocer, told The Sun Online that supermarkets have “stuck to their promise” to cut out offers in favour of lower prices overall.

The data looked at prices and deals across Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and the Co-op in 2016 and compared them to 2016.

Sainsbury's cut the highest number of multi-buys, followed by Tesco. Asda continues to use multibuys "extensively", accounting for 35.8 per cent of overall deals, The Grocer said.

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Supermarkets vowed to phase out multi-buy promotions in February last year ahead of a probe by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The investigation into pricing practices in supermarkets was launched by the competition regulator after consumer group Which? Submitted a super-complaint.

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The CMA worked with supermarkets and Trading Standards to ensure that pricing promotions are genuine.

In particular, it worked with Asda to change the way some promotions were advertised.

Carina said: “Supermarkets have stuck to their promise to cut down on multibuys, with a big reduction in bogofs and x for y offers across the board last year.

“At the same time, they ramped up single price cuts, so shoppers benefitted from both the simplicity and number of deals in store.

But it’s not all good news, as prices may be on the rise for shoppers. Carina added: “We are now starting to see price inflation in some food and drink categories in the wake of the Brexit vote and sterling devaluation, so things might change again this year.”

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