26.12.12 Sainsbury's Brand Match

On a recent visit to Sainbury's, I took the small trolley to the checkout while Mrs MWSC continued to gather a few extra small items.  She put her stuff on the conveyor belt but decided to pay separately for her half dozen things.

I spent £36.60, and as Ms Smiling Inanely handed me my change and receipt, she included a 'Brand Match' coupon that was a pointless piece of paper - to match her pointless comment:  "Oh, your branded shopping was the same price as Tesco and Adsa," delivered with a tone that displayed a weird fusion of glee in giving news, smugness that Sainsbury's was no dearer than the other two supermarkets, and smugness that Sainsbury's was doing rather well.  I pushed the trolley away slowly, as Ms Smiling Inanely rang up the items for Mrs MWSC.  A few seconds later, Mrs MWSC was relaying to me some further inane comments.  Apparently she'd been served with: "Oh, isn't that amazing; you're brand match shows your shopping is the same price as Tesco and Asda as well!"

"Amazing", luv?  No, I do not think so.  The detail on the coupon/slip awarded with each receipt showed nothing more than the statement:

Your branded shop was the same price here today

This is hardly surprising, although it clearly was to Ms Inane on the tills.  I think she has not yet grasped the concept or the terms of the brand match approach.  It applies only to 'branded good'.  The reason that £36.60 worth of shopping just happened to produce an outcome of 'neutral' was that I'd not bought any cuntin' branded goods.  The loose fruit and vegetables were all excluded from the comparison, as were the newspapers and everything that was a 'JS' item.  The twat on the till did not click that there was fuck all to compare.

Mrs MWSC had exactly the same situation - no branded goods in her shopping at all.  So when Ms Inane exclaimed how amazing it was that this was so after my having had such a result, there was clearly nothing going on in the brain department. 

I was not bothered by any of this - if I'd wanted to actually save money, I would have chosed to drive to Asda (further away) or Tesco, or Morrisons.  I think, though, that the lack of staff training is something the Sainsbury's management might like to tackle. 

I toyed with the idea of advising Sainsbury's of its pathetic ability to convince the public that it is cheaper than other supermarkets.  I was also sure that the Customer Service desk would not welcome my confirmation that strong foil disposable oven dishes on sale for £1.50 in the meat aisle were exactly DOUBLE the cost of IDENTICLE ones in the supermarket 500yards due west.  No doubt the only thing I'd have got back is that Lidl is not included in Brand Match, only Tesco and Asda.

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