Supermarkets ditch Bogofs

Published: 23 July, 2008

Thousands of buy-one-get-one-free deals are being axed by Britain's leading supermarket chains as high street shoppers hit by the credit crunch tighten their belts and reduce their weekly grocery bills, a new report showed yesterday.

The vast array of two-for-one offers - known as "Bogofs" - on store shelves countrywide are being replaced by straightforward price cuts as consumers seek to control their overall spending and cut down on waste, according to the Grocer.

Analysis by industry experts reveals that there is a clear movement away from bogofs as cash-strapped customers show that they want to make financial savings instead of buying more products than they need and are likely to throw away.

The Grocer said: "Buy-one-get-one-free was once a much-loved piece of promotional jargon, but it seems the bogof is being told to, well, bog off."

Data from market research company Assosia reveals that last year more than a third of deals (36%) offered by the UK's biggest supermarket chain Tesco were bogofs. But in the first four months of this year that has dwindled to just 12%, while the ratio of "save" deals doubled to 46%. Morrisons has also doubled its number of money-off deals.

Assosia's marketing director, Kay Staniland, told the Grocer: "There has been a big dip and it is down to shoppers wanting an overall saving. They would rather spend 50p to get one product than 1 to get two. They no longer value bulk savings in the way they once did."

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