Should grocers only advertise about price?

Tesco hasn’t had a good week. As far as its advertising is concerned, it has been well and truly rapped over the knuckles.

Both Asda and Aldi had their complaints against Tesco ads upheld. Like the majority of grocery ads, the two in question were about price. The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that Tesco did not use like-for-like products when it claimed to be cheaper than Asda on an average basket, and with Aldi it ruled that Tesco’s use of the slogan “Britain’s Biggest Discounter” was ambiguous and open to a wide variety of interpretations.

Grocery advertising is extremely competitive and while it was Tesco’s week to take a few punches, it could easily have been one of the other big four. Tesco and Asda fill our TV screens and newspapers with ads claiming to be cheaper than the other.

And the other grocers also get their kicks in when they can, whether it be by offering this week’s “best-ever” deal or “unbeatable promotion”, claiming massive savings against the competition.

Grocers have all stepped up their promotions in the recession and as such have stepped up their aggressive advertising. And even discount grocers such as Aldi have started advertising more in an attempt to keep up.

Many commentators have said that the scale of the price-orientated advertising this year means there is much confusion in the market. Some have argued that customers are confused about which grocer is the cheapest and that the ads don’t have the same penetration because of their omnipresence.

This week’s Tesco story did lead to a flurry of comments on our website though, which may prove otherwise. Comments ranged from “Asda’s TV ads walk close to the line as well” to “I have more faith that Asda’s claims stand up to independent scrutiny than any Tesco-speak mumbo-jumbo” and “went to Texas last year and in comparison all UK supermarkets are a rip off”.

While there is a level of scepticism around price-orientated ads, it seems that consumers do care which supermarket is the cheapest. They may have their own firm opinions, but the fact they get fired up shows that they probably do notice the ads.

Clearly we are in the depths of a recession and shoppers are being careful with money. They will go to what they think is the cheapest supermarket but if they notice an ad that gives them a different opinion, they may well give it a try.

Grocers’ ads shouldn’t always be about price. But it would be foolish to drop them altogether.