Shoppers are at risk of overspending because of “challenges” set up by supermarkets aimed at getting customers to buy more in return for extra loyalty points, consumer researchers found.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons all offer their members bonus loyalty points for spending a certain amount.
All the leading supermarkets which offer this claim it provides customers with better value and savings more personalised to them.
However, both the consumer group Which? and the charity StepChange have warned that these schemes could encourage customers to overspend in pursuit of additional loyalty points.
Ele Clark, retail editor at Which?, said: “Competition between supermarkets is fierce at the moment, with all of them shouting about the number of prices they've dropped.
"But the fact remains that overall food is still far more expensive than it was a couple of years ago."
Earlier this week, it was revealed that while non-food prices had moved further into deflation, food inflation had only slowed its decline.
Food inflation slowed to 3.2% from 3.4%, with fresh food inflation reaching its lowest since November 2021.