We were delighted to see this debate kick off in the media not so along ago and now the debate has created a storm on twitter.
What’s it all about? Misleading prices from large supermarkets. A few months ago the BBC’s Panorama programme did an expose on supermarket deals and since then under the Twitter hashtag #wineripoff, twitter users have started naming and shaming some of the half price deals by posting photographs.
The Guardian’s wine critic Fiona Beckett, who was instrumental in getting the debate going on Twitter, was quoted saying “the scale of reductions was deeply misleading”. She said it “wasn’t that the offers weren’t worth snapping up”, but that the original prices advertised were too high.
Like us, many independent retailers have been aware of this for a long time and believe consumers don’t get to drink as well as they might and they’re being unfairly misled.
Château Bauduc owner Gavin Quinney tweeted: “Nothing wrong with discounts, Brits obsessed with deals. It’s the utter porkies about ‘List price’ that’s wrong.”
Former head of wine at Sainsbury’s and industry consultant Allan Cheesman tweeted: “Love the #wineripoff thingy! About time too consumers realise the dubious value of these! Sorry I started the whole process 15 years ago!”
So customers who think that they are getting a great deal are actually paying the market price, we tweeted: ‘At the end of the day, it just leads to the impoverishment of the wine trade let’s stop this charade, good job #wineripoff!
One offer posted was Sainsbury’s Mondelli Pinot Grigio, on a three-for-£12 deal, normally £9.99. The price of Tesco’s Ogio Pink Zinfandel, at £10.39, was slated by Beckett, @winematcher: “Since when was pink zin £10.39? #Tesco.”
A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said: “All of our deals are based on wines that are on sale at the full price for at least 28 days before they are discounted. The example that has been tweeted is incorrect as this wine is actually £7.99, the point of sale shown is out of date. We believe that our customers get good value for all of our wines at the full price but of course, they get a really great deal when they buy on promotion.”
Yeah yeah… check out twitter and join the debate!
