Tuesday 23 November 2010

Shop Local - Value for money.

A reader of this blog has very kindly done a small mystery shop at Bowkett's and Tesco's with interesting results.

He bought 11 (mostly) branded items.

Tesco £16.76 Bowketts £15.46 (7.75% saving)
(Although if you spend another 2p at Tesco you could have had 2 tins of Tomatoes instead of 1)

This was only a small shop but shows that for the middle range shopper it can still make sense to shop local.

If you were able to compromise on brand and select the value items (they were only available for 6 out of the 11 items) your Tesco bill would drop to £12.61* (18.43% saving vs Bowketts)
(Lower branded items might also be available at Bowketts)

As is often said, "You can prove anything with statistics" or as Homer (Simpson) said "Facts are meaningless they can be used to prove anything"

(* The branded items often came in larger sizes so I have adjusted the figure to compare. e.g. Heinz Ketchup Squeezy 342g vs Tesco Ketchup Squeezy 1kg)

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that Bowkett's is not so "significantly more expensive than the big four" as quoted in a previous blog comment. re.Tomatoes - spend another 2p at Tesco and you could have had 2 tins, this brings in an unfair comparison because they would be on offer or a cheaper brand. The "kind" blogger didn't choose any offer products by the looks of things (mostly branded items. To give a fair comparison on the savings you say you can save on value items then another survey would have to be done using value items - which are also stocked at Bowketts and which are lovely. I am assuming the products surveyed are everyday items? There is also an assumption (tomato ketchup) that the majority of the public will settle for cheaper ketchup. Are you serious -I would like to try and give my kids watered down sauce, that's why there's more of it - it's water. It's a waste of money. Also reading between the lines in the comment I really feel that you are doing your level best to diss a seemingly like for like survey. Can we have a debate on tomato sauce please and see what everyone thinks. to compare Heinz Ketchup 342g is £1.02 in Bowketts and £1.04 in Tesco (I have seen it on the shelf).... All home branded products will have a vast difference in prices - it's an unfair comparison. Homer's got his facts wrong... we could not survive without facts or statistics but's thats another story.. I must also point out at this stage that Homer is a cartoon character and if we based our views around a cartoon character then we have seriously lost it. Doh!

Anonymous said...

Tesco are expensive ,people are hood winked in thinking there cheap .Shop local and SAVE MONEY i say.

Anonymous said...

This is excellent news. When Tescos opens Bowketts will be able to compete directly against them on price. With the extra people that Tesco will bring to Tenbury surely this is great news for Bowketts and will make them even more successful?

Anonymous said...

Lidls Ketchup is the best. (Least water, less Sugar, more tomatoes.

@WR15 said...

The tomatoes were Napolina Chopped 400G 98p or 2 for £1.00.

Anonymous said...

Im sure ive seen a 4pk Napolina Tomatoes in Spar at £1.50 and i know there 2 ltr milk is 2 for £2 i got some yesterday.

Anonymous said...

If Napolina are 2 for £1 then they are on offer

@WR15 said...

I think it's fair to say, with some products you are best sticking to a known brand, with others an alternate is acceptable.

@WR15 said...

Yes they were on offer, which is why they weren't included in the price comparison.

The milk price was adjusted as Bowketts supply bottles that are smaller than Tesco. 2ltr vs 2.27ltr

Anonymous said...

This proves it that bowketts and spar just want all the trade for themselves.
Tesco will give Tenbury more choice.
BY the way did you see last night shropshire star Tesco has been praised once again for the design of their ludlow store it will be the same for tenbury when it is built.

@WR15 said...

Just for clarification:

Heinz Tomato Ketchup contains 132g of Tomatoes per 100g. 18 Calories, 4g of Sugar & .5g of Salt.
Tesco Tomato Ketchup contains 176g of Tomatoes per 100g. 15 Calories, 3g of Sugar & .3g of Salt.
(both per 15g serving)

So not watered down at all.

Anonymous said...

I think your all forgetting that the prices in tesco tenbury will be lower until bowketts and spar are gone due to lack of trade. tesco will kee[ them low until all competition is gone then the prices will rise

@WR15 said...

No they wont. They have national prices. (But they may have additional special offers)

Anonymous said...

yet still waiting for your proof wr15 so until then stop bigging them up. they lie so of course they will try and brainwash you and say they do.

Rugby Fan 72 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rugby fan 72 said...

Milk and eggs are hardly a mid range shop - both are significantly cheaper in Bowkett's. Now i am certainly not a Ketchup snob....i am a HP brown sauce man, but the comparison is between "like for like" no offers, not specials, no own brands.

On that basis Bowkett's is cheaper. Fact.

If one wantts to quote learned scholars, "Lies, damned Lies and Statistics" comes to mind - and Tesco basing their planning application on a catchment area of 20 miles in circumferance does seem somewhat optomistic, if you lived in Holt Fleet would you really come to Bowkett's for cheaper eggs and milk? - I think not. Fantastic sausages and meat - now you're talking!

@WR15 said...

It's easy to call Tesco liars when you post comments as Anonymous, but you aren't willing to back up your accusation with any facts.

@WR15 said...

I agree on the shopping exercise as submitted Bowketts are cheaper, but special offers and own brands are a fact of life, and for people living on a very limited income can be the difference between eating or not.

Milk is not significantly cheaper in Bowketts, the bottles are smaller. The smaller bottle is more expensive, the larger is 1p cheaper.

The eggs in Bowketts are now significantly cheaper, but this has only come about recently. Bowkett eggs used to be significantly dearer.

Anonymous said...

But tesco are liars they have been caught out numerous times. So why trust them now?

Anonymous said...

I just seen in spar a 4 pack napolina peeled tomatoes for only £1.50. I'm sure you don't get that at tesco

Anonymous said...

Meat is routinely cheaper and better at Clockhouse and milk is cheaper at the Barn Farm Shop. SPAR and Bowketts have offers that are cheaper than Tesco. Stock up on the offers and it won't you cost more than shopping at Tesco each week. Some people don't like the personal feel of local shops (they don't like people they know seeing what they're buying) so they shop at Tesco.

Anonymous said...

If they don't like people knowing what they are buying then they will still have to go to tesco in Ludlow or kiddo as tesco say they will employ LOCAL PEOPLE FOR TENBURY STORE. So people will know what people are buying so again tesco in Tenbury is not needed

Anonymous said...

I see the Enviroment Agency have objected to the Tesco store .Lets hope its refused and they go away FOREVER !

Environment Agency Objection said...

The link above takes you to the objection letter

Bumblebee said...

Let's face it - it'll all be academic really who's cheaper than who in Tenbury's food shops if Tesco get a toe-hold..

The Llandod Tesco was only in existence a couple of months [opened Jul 2010] before local traders were complaining that:

“We’re losing 25 per cent, week on week, which has surprised a lot of people because they thought our business wouldn’t be affected.”*

Also..

“It’s a difficult time for all businesses, particularly the town centre traders who are finding life hard post-Tesco..."

Even Tesco's own research ongoing at a University in the South of the UK shows that towns with a good x-section of local food shops are "the worst hit" when their supermarkets move into towns.

What does it all clearly point to?

1. Kiss goodbye to much of the existing fragile trade in Tenbury's high street..

2. Say au revoir to a range of jobs in local food shops and supply chains..

3. And finally say auf wiedersehen to Spar..

I've heard a couple of locals say that they'd give the Spar "6 months" if Tesco got the go-ahead next door taking away it's parking spaces out front.

* Llandod article:
http://www.rhyljournal.co.uk/news/94468/traders-hold-crisis-talks-as-tesco-hits-sales.aspx