As supermarket price wars escalate in the face of falling profits, HEATHER BARRON investigates a
remarkable claim by one of the most successful retailers to find out if it could deliver what it says on the tin

I RECENTLY took the Northern Echo’s Mum at Large to task for decrying “loyalty offers” from supermarkets. She wanted regular low prices without the bells and whistles, while I was delighted that a new initiative introduced last year at Morrisons – Match & More – price-matched the usual big supermarkets, as well as cut-price Aldi and Lidl.

Although a loyal Morrisons customer for years, I have been tempted periodically into Aldi, and, at times, considered switching my shop to the cheaper German store. So I was heartened to think that Morrisons was finding ways to retain their shoppers.

Trustingly believing that Morrisons was doing its price-match homework, I continued to do my weekly shop there – averaging £100 – and revelled in the quick accumulation of Match & More points total on the bottom of my receipt. I earned 10 points for every penny spent on items that I could have bought more cheaply at one of the rival stores. Each time I reached 5,000 points, I received a £5 Morrisons voucher at the till.

And then I began to wonder.

While there was always a total of match points at the end of my receipt, there was no breakdown of which items garnered the points.

I have made a guilty stop at Aldi from time to time to pick up one or two items I couldn’t get at Morrisons, and had noted how much cheaper certain things were. I resisted buying them, confident my loyalty to Morrisons was being rewarded with points towards my next money-off voucher.

Until last week, that is, when I decided to put them to the test.

The loaf of white bread I regularly buy for £1.45 in Morrisons is only 95p in Aldi. So I should have been getting 500 points every time I bought one. Last week I did my usual shop, and got 1,640 points on my £99 shop.

Then I bought my loaf of bread separately for £1.45. I checked my receipt and, in the spirit of the recent Eurovision Song Contest – nul points. But, silly me, I had forgotten to present my Match & More card at the till, so I spoke to the Customer Service assistant who informed me that if I had been entitled to Match points, but didn’t possess the required card, it would have told me so at the bottom of the receipt. In the interests of fair play, I went back through the till with another loaf, but this time remembered to scan the magic card. Again, no points registered.

In the small print, issued with your loyalty card, it says you have to spend £15 before the points are awarded - but why isn't that made clear on your receipt which simply says: "We price match across the store on brands, all comparable own-label products and fresh food." It says nothing about a minimum spend.

And when the issue was raised with customer services, no reference was made to a minimum spend.

I’ve calculated that, since I signed up in November – and buying one loaf a week – I should have earned 12,000 points on bread alone – that’s at least an extra two money-off vouchers.

I have since “price-matched” Asda butter – cheaper by 4p – and Aldi 12 large free range eggs – cheaper by a whopping 54p. Nul points on either.

If these staple items have not been included in the much vaunted Match & More scheme, what else has been conveniently missed out? Perhaps Morrisons realised, belatedly, exactly how much in £5 vouchers they were going to have to dish out on this scheme to retain and woo existing and new customers.

But it’s not good enough. It needs to do what it says on the tin. If you make a promise – follow it through. Or you’ll find that no-nonsense-prices Aldi and all your other “price-match” rivals will be the winners.

Look out Morrisons. On behalf of all your loyal customers, I’ll be checking on you, and if I find you are not giving us what you promise, I’ll be filling my trolley elsewhere.