Supermarket Deals Costing Consumers £1,000

Special offers and multi-buy deals are seducing supermarket shoppers into spending more than £1,000 a year on average than planned, according to a new report.

The Money Advice Service (MAS) found 76% of people regularly spend more than they mean to in grocery stores due to the deals and "bogof" (buy one get one free) offers.

On average, people said they were spending £11.14 more than they intended on each shop visit.

With an average number of visits per week at 2.2, the MAS calculated this meant the average person overspending by £1,274 per year.

Meanwhile the research also found those who make a shopping list and stick to it typically spend £200 a year less than those who rarely or never did so.

The report came as Sainsbury's said it would end multi-buy and "bogof" promotions. Sainsbury's said these deals were out of step with today's shopping habits. However it said there would be some exceptions with multi-buy offers used at certain times of the year.

The MAS study asked more than 2,000 consumers to select the cheapest options when presented with four sets of offers as they might be found in a supermarket.

Just 2% selected the best value option from all four sets of offers while 74% answered at least one question correctly. It said these would be swept away across its grocery business by August.

John Penberthy-Smith, customer director for the MAS, said: "The problem is that quite often we see a special offer at the supermarket and we don't want to miss out - so we throw it into our trolley without really thinking about whether it is a good deal or whether we actually need it.

"Often deals can be difficult to understand and compare with other prices.

"Then there's waste - even if the offers are cheaper, bigger packets or 50% extra are not always good value for money if we end up chucking most of it away.

"The best thing to do if you want to save cash is to write a shopping list and try to stick to it.

"You can also try shopping when you've just eaten ... "

Last year an investigation by the competition watchdog found that pricing at major supermarkets was confusing.

The investigation was launched after a "super-complaint" from the consumer group Which?, claiming that pricing practices in the supermarket industry were "misleading and opaque".

The MAS is an independent body set up by Government to offer money tips.