Sainsbury's becomes first supermarket to say BOGOF to multi-buy deals

Instead of deals, Sainsbury's is planning to deliver lower regular prices

Sainsbury's has been working on removing multi-buy promotions since March 2015 (Getty)

Sainsbury's has said it will be the first UK retailer to call time on multi-buy and buy-one-get-one free promotions.

The supermarket said that by August, customers will no longer see the deals across brand products and its own-brand soft drinks, confectionary, biscuits and crisps. There will still be some exceptions when promotions are used a different points during the year.

Instead of deals, Sainsbury's is planning to deliver "lower regular prices".

Sainsbury's has been working on removing multi-buy promotions since March 2015. It said the decision is partly to make it less attractive for customers to bulk-buy junk food, and partly to address food waste.

Paul Mills-Hicks, food commercial director at Sainsbury's, said that by replacing multi-buy promotions with lower regular prices, Sainsbury's is making it easier for customers to buy the products they need, in the quantities they need, without having to buy multiple items.

He said that since Sainsbury's started simplifying its pricing approach, it has seen a much greater variety of products in customers’ baskets.

“Customer shopping habits have changed significantly in recent years, with people shopping more frequently – often seeking to buy what they need at that moment in time," Hicks said. "They like the flexibility to make their own choices."

The Government-backed Money Advice Service (MAS) said on Wednesday that three-quarters of people regularly spend more than they mean to in the supermarket, due to special offers and bogof multi-buy deals.

People said they spend £11.14 more on average than they intend on each shop. MAS calculated that this could lead to someone spending around £1,274 a year more than intended.

“The problem is that quite often we see a special offer at the supermarket and we don’t want to miss out – so we throw it into our trolley without really thinking about whether it is a good deal or whether we actually need it," John Penberthy-Smith, customer director for the MAS, said.