The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has indicated that its review of supermarket loyalty schemes in the country is unlikely to uncover widespread misleading promotions.
Launched in January 2024, the investigation focuses on the impact of loyalty card member-exclusive discounts offered by major supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury's.
The CMA has scrutinised tens of thousands of loyalty price promotions to determine if non-member prices were artificially inflated to make discounts appear more attractive.
The regulator has also explored shoppers’ concerns about supermarkets’ use of their personal data.
Although the review is ongoing, early findings suggest that misleading practices are not prevalent.
However, the CMA noted instances where retailers have alternated between general "was/now" promotions and loyalty price promotions.
“This raises questions as to what the ‘regular’ price is for the product and therefore whether the claim saving for the ‘was /now’ promotion is genuine. We are looking further into this issue,” the CMA said.
In response to CMA’s statement, British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “We welcome the CMA update, which once again shows that supermarkets are doing their best to provide great value groceries for their customers. With food inflation now returned to normal levels, fierce competition between retailers is ensuring customers are the big winners in the UK’s supermarket sector.
“The CMA notes the sharp decline in food inflation, which has fallen significantly to just 1.5% in June 2024, below the level of headline inflation. While operating profits have recovered slightly from the historically low levels seen in 2022/23, they remain in line, or below levels seen before the cost of living crisis.
“The CMA recognises the ‘effective competition’ between retailers is keeping prices as low as possible for customers and ensuring that where retailers can make cost savings, these are passed on to customers. This competition is one of the key reasons why the UK continues to deliver some of the cheapest groceries in Europe.”
The regulator is set to publish a report of its findings in November 2024.
In May 2024, the CMA called on grocery retailers to ensure the accuracy of their in-store pricing.
