Woolworths shopper finds ridiculous ‘special offer’

THERE’S something wrong with this price tag, as a savvy Woolies shopper discovered. As specials go, it’s unimpressive.

Say what?

DOES anyone pay attention to these ‘special offer’ tags anymore?

Woolworths has been caught out once again with a price tag that boasts a price reduction of ... zilch.

A shopper from Western Sydney posted an image of the Helga’s loaf of Ancient Grains bread, on offer for $3.50 — its original price.

“I think you’ve lost the concept of what a special is here,” the woman wrote.

It’s not the first time Woolworths has bamboozled shoppers with its ‘specials’ tags. Shoppers were left scratching their heads at a one-cent discount on a $20 children’s toy last September, when the ‘Little Live Pets Butterfly House’ was reduced to $19.99.

And several news.com.au readers have today emailed in the doozies they’ve spotted in-store ... Like this Uncle Tobys variety pack, “reduced” from $5.49 to $5.49 in Tuggeranong, ACT.

Oops, I did it again.

And this “half price” air freshener spray, plus 95¢ cents off a $39.95 bulk tin of Milo at Woolworths-owned department store Big W.

We are the champions.

Go halvies.

Then there’s this very “special” pork leg, which was $20.43 and is now ... $20.43.

These “accidents” are becoming rather commonplace.

It seems that the supermarket giant’s Canberra team has a lot to answer for. One shopper told news.com.au that her local store at Charnwood, ACT was “full of these tickets with no discount at all”.

She submitted a photograph (below) “which I took a while ago, but I still saw these tickets the other day with zero deductions in the reduced to clear corner!”

Someone call the ACCC.

Woolworths is not the only offender; Target and Super Cheap Auto have also been caught out.

An extra four cents? What a bargain.

That’s a lot of stickers for one price.

In any case, it seems that Woolworths has more pressing issues to worry about, with retail analysts labelling its turnaround plan “overly optimistic”.

Poor “in-store execution” and the failure of its “value message” were holding Woolworths back, UBS analyst Ben Gilbert told Fairfax Media.

Mr Gilbert said that Woolworths was making “inferior ranging decisions” compared with its main rival, with just 1500 products on everyday low value pricing — while Coles had about 2700 products.

He said that while both supermarkets had reduced the price of roast chicken from $11 to $8 early this year, Coles doubled its sales while Woolworths ran low on stock and failed to significantly boost its sales — despite undercutting Coles by 10¢ at $7.90.

Coles has also been caught out with a no-cent discount tags, like the one at its Woden, ACT store where a customer snapped a picture of a packet of Create & Bake Polka Dot Patty Pans, ‘reduced to clear’ from $3.20 to ... $3.20.

Woolworths’ social media account manager was quick to respond to this morning’s complaint.

“We’re sorry about this ticketing error,” the company posted. “Could you let us know the store you saw this in for rectification?”

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