A review of the promotional landscape in Ireland's top retailers, carried out by OBK Accountants, has found that the 'Was/Now' pricing mechanism is the most widely used (47%), followed by the 'Single Price Point' mechanism (34%).
'Multibuy' price points accounted for 11% of promotions, with 'BOGOF' accounting for just 3%. '50% Extra Free' accounted for 2% of promotions.
To conduct the study, OBK used a sample of over 10,000 promotions across all major retailers between August and December 2013. The data was compiled from publicly available information, including supermarket brochures and leaflets, focusing only on branded food products, rather than private label.
It found that Tesco had the highest proportion of 'Was/Now' promotions (69%), followed by Dunnes (52%), Centra (51%), Superquinn (46%) and SuperValu (45%).
It also found that Dunnes Stores had the highest proportion of 'Was/Now' promotions offering half price or better (73%), well ahead of other retailers including Tesco (54%), Centra (40%), Eurospar (33%), SuperValu (27%) and Superquinn (24%).
This means that close to three quarters of 'Was/Now' promotions in Dunnes offer more than 50% off.
The highest proportion of Single Price Point offers was found in Aldi (93%), followed by Lidl (77%). Both discounters had 'Single Price Point' promotion levels well ahead of their retail rivals - Dunnes (39%), Centra (36%), SuperValu (35%), Eurospar (24%) and Superquinn (22%).
The study found that the category with the highest proportion of promotions was Confectionery, followed by Frozen Meat/Fish/Chicken, Yoghurts & Desserts, Deli Meat/Fish/Chicken and Seasonal Christmas products.
© 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
