Multibuys are back at Sainsbury's
10 September 2021
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Key Takeaways
1) Sainsbury's have reintroduced multi-buys on a meal deal mechanic for the first time in over 5 years or so.
2) We had seen the multibuy mechanic creep back in on Wines (Buy 6, Save 25%) alongside non-food also. But it's the first such food deal for a long time.
3) Their ability to clear non-food stock used to be unparalleled, but a recent visit yielded a build up of residual stock, some of it without a clearance price applied.
A couple of weeks ago, Sainsbury's landed their latest meal deal offering, an area where despite real growth in the market, with everyone involved, Sainsbury's stoic refusal to introduce multi-buys meant they were landlocked in a key area.
They did introduce multi-buys on lightbulbs, and indeed, Wines (buy 6, save 25%) but these were permissible as they weren't food.
Quite.
So the introduction of a multibuy deal inside a meal deal mechanic finally brings them in to the competition against the likes of M&S et al, where the Dine In is a staple.
Whilst Sainsbury's did run an end for meal deal, and also for key events like Valentine's Day. It was needlessly confusing as it hit the same price point (£15) but the prices were adjusted to make it so, which then left the customer feeling as though they hadn't really saved any money.
Certainly did blunt their impact in and around key events and times of year - such as now - where customers do prefer dine in as the nights draw in.
Another point of note was the level of clearance in Sainsbury's non-food areas, now some JS stores are relatively large and as such, have a wider offer, even with Argos within.
Sainsbury's were always very, very strong at clearing out discontinued and older stock with their '%' discounts, by store, based on what stock levels they had. This was expensive sure, but it meant that stores weren't then spending a huge amount of time (that is never measured by productivity teams in central offices) moving around and managing stock.
Even in bigger stores, space can be at a premium, where do you post this dead and ghost stock?
However, their policy seemingly changed in recent years and they now don't tend to clear things down as rapidly as they once did, especially in non-food.
Where you had a near bizarre scenario of seemingly full priced lines sat in space with other reduced lines which, whilst merchandising wasn't terrible here, in your worst stores, imagine the carnage.
(Red labels indicate a price cut, whereas white labels show the item is still full priced).
Older stock hanging around just creates a longer term problem and eventually it will need clearing out, ambient can be the same with minimal discount applied to these areas.
It's folly and just creates a problem for the stores.
Next up - we're reviewing the changes at Asda
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From the Grocery Insight newsletter archive, first sent to subscribers on 10 September 2021. Steve now writes at read.groceryinsight.com. See also the blog archive and briefings.