Tesco Revamps Its "Value" Line

Sometimes that 's the case, on other occasions Tesco has just screwed over the suppliers on our behalf.

Thank you for your comment Alan and I think I should clarify (as it could be misconstrued), my referral to the 3 for 2 nonsense, was not meant to be indicating the article was nonsense.

What I was referring to was the marketing mechanism behind this type of promotion.

Somewhere, someone is paying the bill. Whether it be Tesco or any other business, they're not in the business of giving stuff away and I think it's important to understand that.

For me, all this sort of marketing is a turn off and I do undoubtedly switch off when I see such claims. I can't (and won't) however argue that in this instance, you do appear to have found a genuine discounted item, but the question still is, who's picking up the tab?

Maybe as NikThomas suggested, it's the supplier.

So I suppose next ask; does it work? Clearly from your response it does, so maybe I'm just the ultimate cynic when seeing this stuff.

In my heart, I hope it does as I hold shares in Tesco, so can I suggest you get down there and buy some more please?

Cheers! ;-)

If you notice the 3 for 2 and 2 for 1 bargains vary over time, so no they are not charged at some vast profit ratio where you are paying the normal price with an offer. They of course do have a profit margin when they are sold normally, and they still make a profit from the increased sales when there is an offer, since the next offer in line is on another product that is charging the standard profit margin for the company.

I disagree with your analysis on what is wrong with the old value range, and on what the effectiveness will be:

People love Also and Lidl, which have been thriving, because they offer, to coin a term, "spend a little live a lot". In other words, quality at value prices. Tesco value offered "spend a little live a little" by contrast, which simply can't compete with Also or Lidl.

With the everyday value revamp, Tesco has its sights on the Lidl crowd, and I think it may just work.

It's just a very snobby british elitist thing. In Germany Lidl carparks are full of mercs! Actually these supermarkets inc Penny seriously misjudged this cultural stupidity of the British who prefer to pay more for shopping so they can look better than the neighbors. Indeed quite happy to put up with local monopolies by supermarkets (in Germany quite unheard of to have. Single supermarket in a town). One day Britain will learn .... The empire has gone and time to stop those d elitist attitudes. Hopefully driven by a collapse in the housing market (what I pray for every day!)

Firstly, I must declare that I'm a holder of Tesco. I bought on the recent drop, and I'm more than happy with my purchase.

Are people really taken in by the 3 for 2 nonsense?

There's such a thing as being over-cynical.

I shop at Tesco mainly because it's the nearest store to my route home, and because it's open all the time. I tend to buy the same products regularly, and although I wouldn't call myself price-conscious I get to know the prices of some goods simply through familiarity.

I can therefore confirm without a shadow of doubt that offers like this are, at least in the cases I've come across, entirely genuine. The discounts I've seen are applied to products whose pre-discount price is also genuine, in that it's the price that is normally charged (not just for the statutory period before the discount) and on the (admittedly few) occasions I've checked it's also more or less the same price that's charged for that product in other supermarkets.

I would consider myself a reasonably demanding and discriminating shopper, and the negative comment about Tesco doesn't reflect my own experience. I've been shopping there for over 10 years, and for the most part they're perfectly OK. The staff seem generally pleasant and helpful and the products very rarely give any cause for complaint.

This is, after all, functional shopping. The only purpose of going there is to buy products I need cheaply and quickly. It's not like shopping for expensive clothing or items where advice and guidance is required, and all I really ask is that the store is clean and pleasant to shop in, which it is.

Also, as I often work `unsocial' hours, it's hugely useful to me that they're open all the time, and they are the only local supermarket who are.

I also shop occasionally at Sainsbury’s and although the local store doesn't seem as popular as Tesco their checkout queues are nearly always longer. I really can't distinguish any significant quality difference between the two, and, of course, in many cases the products are branded anyway, so are by definition identical.

We do now have a Lidl store, but I've only been in once. At a fairly brief glance the range of choice seemed much smaller than Tesco, but I didn't check the prices. I'd actually gone in to get some champagne, which had been given a good write-up and was certainly cheap. However, to my surprise and mild embarrassment, when I got to the till to pay the £70 or so bill I was told they didn't take credit cards, so not having enough cash on me I had to slink away shamefaced! I couldn't believe that a major supermarket chain wouldn't accept credit cards, and it certainly downgraded them in my eyes.

One positive change I have noticed recently with Tesco is the reintroduction of coupons that are targeted at my spending. They used to do this up until a couple of years ago, when it seems to have stopped.

By this I mean coupons that give discounts or Clubcard points in respect of products I would have bought anyway. Whilst an additional 50p off a bottle of wine or 50 Clubcard points for buying a particular brand of cereal is neither here nor there in the great scheme of things it nevertheless gives me a mild pleasure to be getting something for nothing.

And if my Clubcard gives them information about my spending habits they're quite frankly more than welcome to it if it means I can then get discounts off the products I buy, rather than getting offers on goods in which I've no interest at all.

I appreciate that I'm talking mainly of my experience with my local branch, which for all I know is a shining light in an otherwise bleak and gloomy Tesco landscape. But I know that from talking to friends recently the majority feel the same about their own local Tesco stores, and neither I nor anyone I've recently spoken to has felt any compulsion to start shopping elsewhere.

I therefore suspect a lot of the criticism is just jumping on the bandwagon. The British really enjoy a good moan, and particularly in these days of the entitlement culture it's never exactly a challenge to find disgruntled customers of any large company that sells to consumers. However, it will only last until the next Aunt Sally is put up and officially named as the company we love to hate.

And finally I do think it's a good move to rebrand the `value' range. Whether it's snobbery or not English shoppers don't like being branded as poor and the red white and blue labelling had undoubtedly earned that cachet.

The problem I have with Tesco's 3for2 or BOGOF deals is that they always seem to be on products that my fmaily of 3 will never get through within the sell-by date. Two quiches that need eating within 3 days? Useless! Just lower the prices instead of encouraging people to spend more money than they had intended, only to end up throwing half their weekly shop in the bin.

I have recently started shopping at Aldi and I reckon it's saving me £20 per week, even taking into account a second trip to Morrisons or Tesco to buy the few items I can't get at Aldi. The quality of Aldi produce is better than Tesco own brand (not Value, the middle range) but much cheaper. I couldn't give two hoots what any foolish snobs think of the fact I shop there - a fool and their money.....

At Tesco, Heinz soup 50p last weekend, now 85p and 65p. No explanation. Prices seem to be hapharzdly set and perhaps there is some panic. Would be better if we had more price stability, rather than all these annoying gimmicks. What price next week?

@LastChip

You are correct, of course, someone has to pay for the promotional items. I work for a food producer and I have seen how this works. The producer is told by the retailer that they will be running a BOGOF and the producer is expected to supply the product at the discounted price. The producer is not given a choice in the matter and it is considered the price of doing business with the Tescos and Asdas of this world. If you resist, you run the risk of the product being delisted for a while to teach you a lesson!