People who sign up for supermarket loyalty schemes and actively seek out products on special offer could be spending almost €500 more than they need to on their shopping each year, it has been claimed.
The scale of potential overspending is outlined in a survey published today by Aldi. It is the only major retailer in the Irish supermarket space not to offer any loyalty scheme to customers and the findings of the research are likely to be hotly disputed by other retailers
It suggests that consumers who chase special offer deals and seek to take advantage of loyalty schemes are at risk of not only wasting money but also damaging the environment by buying food that will ultimately be binned.
The survey of 1,000 adults, carried out by Coyne Research on behalf of the German discounter, said 50 per cent of those polled overspend, shop more frequently or buy what they do not need to qualify for supermarket money-off vouchers
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A further 46 per cent said Buy One Get One Free and Three for Two sale offers lead them to spend more money than they planned, with 43 per cent saying the promise of such deals saw them buy things they don’t really need or want. Some 30 per cent believe loyalty schemes and money-off vouchers lead them to waste food.
The survey puts the average extra money spent each week by people chasing loyalty club deals at €9, with three in 10 claiming the additional spend was more than €10.
Majority of shoppers
Based on those figures, a significant number of Irish shoppers could be spending up to €477 per year more than they need on groceries.
The survey also found that a majority of shoppers said that even when using money-off vouchers, their shop still costs more than they expected, with four in 10 shoppers telling pollsters that money-off vouchers benefit supermarkets more than the shoppers.
According to Aldi managing director Niall O’Connor, the survey suggests that “current supermarket loyalty schemes and money-off vouchers may actually increase the cost of Irish families’ weekly shop”.
He added that the “cost of running these marketing ploys is built into our competitors’ grocery prices and ultimately mean higher prices for shoppers”.
