Asda to be shamed by competition watchdogs tomorrow in major crackdown on supermarket rip-offs

Katie Morley
26 APRIL 2016
Asda will be publicly shamed by competition watchdogs as part of a major clampdown which could see misleading “multi-buy” deals in supermarkets permanently phased out.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is expected to reveal that it has forced Asda to end rip-off deals across its stores in a report into pricing practices at Britain’s biggest grocery stores.
In February the Telegraph exclusively reported that the CMA was planning to crack down on multi-buy deals after Which? launched a “super complaint” about confusing prices last year.
Less than 24 hours after this Sainsbury’s announced it would become the first supermarket to completely discontinue multi-buy deals in store this summer, while other supermarkets including Morrison’s and Tesco said they had started phasing them out.
ASDA
Asda has a reputation for being cheap, but now its pricing has come under criticism CREDIT: PA
Asda told the Telegraph it was also following suit by “prioritising low prices over promotions”, claiming it had removed 133 multi-buys in favour of everyday low prices in that week alone.
But today Asda is expected to be singled out by the competition watchdog as the only major supermarket it has had to force to comply with its new standards.
This calls into question the chain’s claims last year the effectiveness of its action to tackle the rip-off deals.
Traditionally Asda has been rated the cheapest of the major grocers, getting the lowest-priced rating by the Grocer magazine for 18 years in a row across a basket of 33 products.
But consumers will now want to know if this has been achieved partially at their expense.
James Daley, director at Fairer Finance, a consumer body, said: “Supermarkets which are not willing to abide by the rules should be publicly shamed as they are using confusing pricing for their own commercial gain.
“Once customers know supermarkets and trust that they offer good value it is easy to tempt them to spend more with misleading deals. Companies deliberately do this to confuse and deceive customers.
“The CMA must send out the message that no matter how big they are they are not above the law and the rules.”
In its report today, the CMA is expected to criticize Asda for multi-buy deals such as “buy-one-get-one free” offers, as well as “one-for-one” pricing, where items are on a discount for weeks from the “full price” which only existed for a few days.
The Telegraph understands that the CMA has now secured a written commitment from Asda that it will change its pricing.
The other major supermarkets have met its new standards voluntarily, the report is expected to find.
According to the Money Advice Service, a Government backed body, such deals are “seducing” shoppers into spending an extra £1,000 a year. It found that on average shoppers are spending an extra £11.14 (21pc) a week more than they planned as a result of being tempted by “deals”, with three-quarters (76pc) admitting to regularly over-spending on their weekly grocery shop.
A CMA spokesman confirmed that an announcement would be made in relation to its follow-up investigation to the Which? super-complaint about misleading supermarket deals.
Asda was unavailable for comment.