Special offers at Superquinn

More new specials in my new, officially favourite regular* supermarket. The current set includes:

• Irish spring leg of lamb – half price – now €6.99 per kg
• Selection of half price Superquinn cakes
• Superquinn chilled juice range – any 2 for €3

The offers are valid until Tuesday August 24. Click here for details.

(*Regular: Tesco, Superquinn, SuperValu and Dunnes. Excludes Aldi, Lidl and Marks and Spencer)

I might be a lone voice in the wilderness, but here goes. Yes, Irish groceries are still too expensive, at Superquinn and elsewhere. We have the second highest prices for food and non-alcoholic drinks in the European Union. Yes, there’s evidence of price-matching; the big four supermarkets – Tesco, Dunnes, SuperValu, and Superquinn, which together control well over 70 per cent of the Irish market – are all charging roughly the same. Yes, there’s too much emphasis on special offers instead of permanently lower prices. Yes, this can encourage people to buy things they don’t need.

And yet, and yet: Superquinn’s special offers are genuinely tempting. Their delicious meat and some of their breads can be stocked in the freezer, and the vast bulk of their offers are half-price rather than the dreaded two for one deals.

Ignore their fruit deals. Yes, they have nice fruit, but there’s much cheaper to be had elsewhere. Make a judicious shopping list and you can pick up some fantastic deals here.

Anecdotally, some customers think that Superquinn is more expensive than the other three supermarkets. While the most recent NCA survey suggests otherwise, an interesting article by Conor Pope in today’s Irish Times kindly points out that the NCA has been outfoxed by the massive marketing budget of the supermarkets:

The big retailers can stock in excess of 10,000 products and they know which products the NCA is likely to include in its price surveys. All they need to do is manage carefully the prices of the goods likely to be included to create the impression they are becoming more competitive while at the same time hiking the prices of other lines which may be less popular but which still sell in vast quantities.

I can’t stay away from Superquinn lately. I can understand why it seems more expensive because they’ve such a tempting range, but I haven’t noticed a significant difference since switching from Dunnes (I’m still getting most of the shopping in Lidl/ Aldi). It’s just that, in Superquinn, I’m much more likely to buy fancy breads, cheeses, or cakes, or more expensive artisan products. Just don’t go crazy.

What do you think of Superquinn?