A frugal life is an easy life!

Surveys and awards serve no purpose other than to protect or increase sales for the companies involved - it is a simple message but one that needs to be remembered.

The latest shining example (of many out there in "marketing land") of how a false perception is given, comes from the Grocer magazine.
The Grocer magazine's customer base is retailers. This is through it's advertising, marketing even jobs promotion.

I followed a link to read their latest report, but it was "subscription only" - I would have to pay to read it! (No thanks)
The next best thing then, the Grocer gave their report to the BBC website to generate publicity and they published the headlines from it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8476315.stm

"Supermarket alcohol promotions reduced"
You can laugh now, I did.

"Research for the magazine showed that the number of deals on alcohol in January this year made up 22% of all promotions, compared to 26% last year"
How many big occasions are celebrated after New Years in January?
Why not look at the deals for December?

"Instead, offers on fresh food have risen. This year they made up 14% of promotions - while last year they represented only 11.5%"
Is this because these are the latest promotions for supermarkets?
January each year, more people start eating healthier food after the big eating season of Christmas and New Year?

"The Grocer said the trend was most marked at Asda - Drink deals there fell from 27% to 13%"
I would dispute this totally!
It is certainly not the case at my local Asda!
Is it not only natural for drinks offers to fall as the New Year celebrations are over?

"A separate study for The Grocer showed that, on average, alcohol was selling for 2% to 5% more in the run-up to Christmas in 2009, compared with 2008."
A seperate study that didn't make the headlines?
A seperate study that shows that despite inflation being at 1.5% for months, supermarket's put their prices up on alcohol by up to 5%
That is more than three times the rate of inflation (On just one product area) - no wonder supermarket's are making millions of pounds in profits!
This displays the exact opposite to what supermarket TV adverts are saying to the public does it not?

The entire credibility of the report is destroyed at the end, when the real reason is revealed as to why the report has been put out:

"The research comes as politicians consider introducing minimum pricing rules for alcohol as a way of tackling binge drinking"
Need I say anything more...