Poundland charges 'up to 50% more' than other supermarkets

Items such as milk, biscuits and chocolate sold in smaller packs for the same prices, research finds
'Amazing prices': Poundland is charging up to 50 per cent more per unit on some food items, the Sunday Times found (Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)
Ramzy Alwakeel20 April 2015

Food sold at discount shop Poundland can be up to 50 per cent more expensive than it would be in a supermarket, new research has found.

A Sunday Times investigation claims items such as cornflakes, biscuits, milk and chocolate are being sold for significantly more at the budget shop - which advertises "amazing value every day" in its windows - than at shops such as Tesco, Asda and Iceland.

The difference stems from items being sold in smaller quantities for the same prices, the paper said.

The product that topped the mark-up list was a 250g box of Kellogg's cornflakes - sold for £1 at Poundland even though a box three times the size was £1.98 at Tesco.

Galaxy Minstrels, meanwhile, retailed for £1 at Poundland and 98p at Asda - even though the supermarket pack was nearly 50pc bigger.

Chocolate digestive biscuits are £1 in both Poundland and Iceland - but again the Poundland pack is smaller, with 300g to Iceland's 400g, making the supermarket 33pc better value.

And two litres of full fat milk cost £1 in Poundland, but a 2.27-litre bottle is 89p at Asda.

Poundland, which was founded in Staffordshire in 1990, now has 549 shops nationwide, including more than 60 in London. It has sold stock for £1 for 25 years.

But a spokesman told the newspaper the discount shop was, on average, 40pc cheaper than its competitors when a wider range of products were taken into account. He added comparing larger pack prices was not "like-for-like".

"We conduct price surveys every two weeks against the supermarkets," he said. "We believe we are 40pc cheaper or more against 1,000 branded products. Comparing either supermarket promotions or larger pack sizes with our prices is not a meaningful comparison.

"Promotions are temporary and with larger pack sizes you have to spend much more to get any better value. On a like-for-like comparison Poundland's value, across our whole range, is compelling."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in