Tesco at first challenged the claims, but has now said it will make changes to the way it displays its Clubcard prices, after backlash from consumer organisation Which?
Supermarket Tesco is changing how it displays prices on its Clubcard deals in stores and online.
The move comes after the store was criticised by consumer organisation Which?. The watchdog said the UK’s biggest supermarket could have been breaking the law over how it displayed Clubcard prices, making it tough for shoppers to compare deals.
The supermarket at first challenged the claims, but has now said it will make changes. The price per unit will now be displayed alongside the total price.
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“This is something that we have been planning to do for some time,” said Tesco’s UK chief executive Jason Tarry, who said there were 8,000 Clubcard offers every week. “Over the coming weeks these changes will appear in all our stores, as our colleagues update millions of price labels on the shelf edge. We will also be adding these unit prices to our Clubcard Prices deals online.”
Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said that prices needed to be clear as some consumers were struggling to afford meals.
“The lack of unit pricing on Tesco’s Clubcard offers was a glaring omission and we warned that this approach could be breaking the law last summer, so it’s good to see the nation’s largest supermarket stepping up to do the right thing by making this important change,” she said. “We look forward to seeing this rolled out quickly across all stores and online so shoppers can benefit as soon as possible.”
Tesco’s Clubcard is a loyalty scheme that allows members get discounted prices on products.
Which? reported Tesco to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last June, pointing to prices of ketchup as an example of unclear pricing. It said Tesco’s decision not to display unit pricing on its Clubcard offers could be breaking the law.
According to competition rules, unit prices could be seen as “material information” which most people would need in order to make an informed decision about how to get the best value from what they are buying.
In its response at the time, Tesco said it complied with all current rules and called Which?’s claims “ill-founded”, before it’s U-turn this week.
The move comes after Tesco shared a warning with its Clubcard members back in February, as it said £18million worth of vouchers could be lost when they expired.
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