Loyalty schemes such as Tesco’s Clubcard and Sainsbury’s Nectar came under formal investigation today as the UK’s competition watchdog launched a probe into whether their labelling misleads shoppers.
In particular, the CMA will assess whether deals advertised under club schemes are as attractive as advertised or if only giving good deals to scheme members is discriminatory.
An interim report is expected in July with a full report by the end of the year.
The CMA added it wants more use of unit pricing to enable shoppers to understand clearly how much they paying for items.
George Lusty, senior director for consumer protection at the CMA, said: “Food prices have risen over 27% in the last two years and everyone is on the lookout for ways to save money on their grocery bills.
“Unit pricing – that small text underneath the main selling price – is a great way to compare brands and sizes to make sure you’re not spending more money than you need to on groceries.
Which? head of food policy Sue Davies said: “This latest update by the CMA reinforces how important unit pricing can be to help shoppers identify which products offer the best value on the supermarket shelf.
“It also shows that using ‘rules of thumb’ such as buying bigger packs or products on promotion doesn’t always guarantee the best price.”
Early today, figures showed shop price inflation in January was its lowest for eighteen months.
According to the British Retail Consortium-NielsenIQ Shop Price Index, January's shop price growth was 2.9% compared with a year ago, easing from a rise of 4.3% in December and below the three-month average of 3.9%.