A new study by Coyne Research, commissioned on behalf of Aldi Ireland, has revealed for the first time the true cost of current Irish supermarket loyalty schemes and money-off vouchers to Irish shoppers.
According to the research, half of Irish shoppers claim to have intentionally overspent, shopped more frequently, or bought something that they didn’t need in order to qualify for supermarket money-off vouchers.
The study revealed that €9 was the average extra money spent, with three in ten Irish shoppers claiming that their additional spend was over €10.
Aldi Ireland noted that it does not operate a loyalty scheme or money-off vouchers, instead focusing on offering the lowest-possible grocery prices to every customer, every time s/he shops at one of its 150 Irish stores.
The survey of 1,000 Irish adults found that, despite the promise of large savings through supermarket loyalty and money-off voucher schemes, 60% of shoppers believe that, when using money-off vouchers, their shop still costs more than they expected.
Four in ten shoppers believe that money-off vouchers benefit the supermarket more than they do the shoppers.
Buy One Get One Free
Unsurprisingly, 46% of shoppers claimed that discounts such as buy-one-get-one-free and three-for-two offers lead them to spend more than they planned, the research showed.
Some 43% of the respondents said that it leads them to buy things that they don’t really need or want, while 42% said that such offers don’t help them save money.
Worryingly – at a time when shoppers aim to make more sustainable shopping choices – 30% of those surveyed said that they believe that supermarket loyalty schemes and money-off vouchers lead them to waste food.
Cost Increase
Commenting, Niall O’Connor, group managing director, Aldi Ireland, said that the survey findings clearly show that current supermarket loyalty schemes and money-off vouchers may actually increase the cost of Irish families’ weekly shops.
“The cost of running these marketing ploys is built into our competitors’ grocery prices, and ultimately mean higher prices for shoppers,” O’Connor noted.
“Aldi works to give customers the very best prices every time they shop at our stores. We don’t want to reward only some customers who sign up for a scheme that they don’t really need.
“Irish shoppers are facing difficult choices, currently, about how they spend their money, stretching their budgets to get as much as possible, as they face the biggest decline in spending power for a generation,” he added.
Discussing the research, Bernie Coyne, managing director of Coyne Research, said, “At a time when many families are suffering a squeeze on their budgets, vouchers and other supermarket schemes may seem tempting, however, our research tells a story that Irish shoppers are beginning to question whether money-off vouchers really benefit them or provide them with real savings.”
© 2022 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
