By MoneySavingExpert's Coupon Kid, Jordon Cox
There’s been a lot of hype about the Sainsbury’s 10x Nectar loyalty points boost this weekend – where you’ll get 10 points for every £1 spent in store till Monday 1 May. Sounds good, but might you actually be left short-changed?
I’ve done some digging and what I’ve found suggests you could actually be left out of pocket shopping at Sainsbury’s during this weekend’s boost event. It seems to have increased its prices on 21 out of the 25 branded items I checked today, some of which had previously been at the same price for months (in some cases years).
For instance, Febreze Cotton Fresh spray (300ml) had been priced at £2 since July 2016, but this week the price has jumped to £3, while an eight-pack of Coca Cola cans are now £3.60 – the highest price we’ve ever seen – increasing from £3 last week.
All my findings are based on data from grocery price-tracking site Mysupermarket, which logs any price changes at the major supermarkets and shows historical price movements in handy charts. Mysupermarket told us it takes all of its pricing info from supermarkets’ own websites, but doesn’t take into account any in-store-only pricing or regional variations.
Of the 25 items I looked at – including big brands such as Kellogg’s, Cadbury, Uncle Ben’s and Coca-Cola – I found 21 had gone up in price this week. The total for this entire shopping list came in at £52.05, but if you did the exact same shop at Sainsbury’s last week, your total would’ve been nearly 17% cheaper at £43.27. Not what I’d expect from a points boost event I’d hope would’ve saved me money.
For the list of 25 items I picked, this weekend you’d be better off at Asda* – with the total coming out £9.45 cheaper than the same shop at Sainsbury’s. And if you think the bonus Nectar points will make up for it, you’d only earn 520 Nectar points (worth just £2.60). See Nectar Boost help for an explanation of how the 10x boost works.
Here’s what I found…
| Product | Price on 23 Apr | Price now (28 Apr) | Cheapest elsewhere (according to Mysupermarket) |
| Coca-Cola (8 x 330ml) | £3 | £3.60 (highest recorded) | £3 at Tesco, Morrisons & Asda |
| Warburtons medium sliced white bread (800g) | £1 | £1.05 (highest recorded) | £1 at Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose, Ocado & Iceland |
| Fairy original washing up liquid (500ml) | £1 | £1.30 (highest recorded) | Two for £2 at Tesco, Asda & Ocado |
| Sharwood’s mild tikka cooking sauce (420g) | £1 | £1.80 (highest recorded) | £1 at Tesco, Asda, Morrisons & Waitrose |
| Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut cornflakes (500g) | £2 | £2.70 | £1.34 at Iceland |
| Napolina rigatoni pasta (500g) | £1 | £1.30 | £1 (or two for £1.50) at Asda |
| Dolmio bolognese Sauce (500g) | £1.70 | £1 | £1 at Morrisons |
| Heinz baked beans (4 x 415g) | £2 | £2.70 | £2 at Tesco, Asda & Waitrose |
| Dr Oetker Ristorante Pizza Mozzarella (335g) | £1.87 | £2.50 | £1.25 at Asda |
| Buxton still mineral water (8 x 500ml) | £1.69 | £2 | £1.60 at Tesco & Asda |
| Cadbury Fudge (6 x 25g) | £1 | £1.25 | £1 at Tesco, Asda, Ocado & Iceland |
| Uncle Ben’s classic basmati rice (250g) | £1 | £1.35 | 74p at Tesco |
| New Covent Garden tomato & basil soup (600ml) | £1.67 | £2 | £1 at Asda |
| Whiskas cat food poultry selection (12 x 100g) | £3.50 | £3 | £3 at Asda |
| Febreze Mist & Refresh Cotton Fresh spray (300ml) | £2 | £3 | £2 at Asda, Morrisons & Ocado |
| Herbal Essences ‘Hello Hydration’ shampoo (400ml) | £2 | £3 | £2 at Asda & Morrisons |
| Nivea ‘Invisible’ anti-perspirant spray (250ml) | £1.62 | £2 | £1.50 at Asda |
| Kellogg’s Special K cereal bars (5x20g) | £1 | £1.50 | £1 at Asda & Morrisons |
| Bold 2-in-1 Gel (24 washes) | £4 | £4 | £3.50 at Ocado |
| Bernard Matthew turkey dinosaurs (500ml) | £1.50 | £2 | £1.50 at Tesco |
| Cathedral City mature cheddar (350g) | £3.50 | £2.50 | £2 at Asda |
| A2 semi-skimmed milk (1L) | £1.17 | £1.35 | £1 at Tesco |
| McCain Home Chips straight cut (900g) | £1.50 | £1.75 | £1.50 at Tesco |
| Cadbury Fingers (138g) | £1 | £1.65 | £1 at Asda & Iceland |
When I rang the Sainsbury’s press team, I was told “Prices can change from time to time. We always aim to be as competitive as possible and remain focused on providing our customers with quality and value on the products that matter most to them.”
Of course, supermarket prices can fluctuate each week, so this could be a coincidence – but I’ll leave you to make your own minds up.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments, on Twitter or Facebook.
