If making promos difficult to compare is the objective, then stakeholder efforts are working well, in that Watchdog deal-quizzing of consumers found that just one in 50 was able to choose the cheapest option....
If driving sales in flat-line markets is the objective, then, according to the Daily Mail, then such confusion is causing shoppers to spend an extra £1,200/annum.
What no one is measuring is the negative impact on brand equity amid the creeping suspicion of being misled. Even more serious is the fact that, in the absence of effective self-regulation - last year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had found evidence of misleading supermarket promotions following investigations into a super-complaint submitted to the regulator by consumer watchdog Which? - the government could intervene in order to clarify the position for shoppers...
Think bureaucracy and 'government language' to explore the implications.
How much better if suppliers and retailers worked together to attempt to retrieve some of their respective brand equity by aiming at clarity and sustainable like-with-like comparison of promos, before the government is forced to assist...
