Shopping Discussion

No Frills : the end of price matching?

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  • Dec 22nd, 2015 6:42 pm
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Deal Guru
Aug 15, 2015
10497 posts
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ON
Cheap Cat wrote: The flyer refers to their Won't Be Beat Guarantee. This is not their standard price matching policy. They had Won't Be Beat before they offered price matching. Won't Be Beat in most stores applies to select items like milk, butter, bread, eggs etc. The prices are usually posted on large signs at the front of the store. The policy posted above seems to be expanded to include all items in their flyer. Perhaps it is something they are trying in London instead of price matching.
This is how I'm reading it too.
Deal Fanatic
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Jan 25, 2004
7009 posts
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Ottawa
thechampion116 wrote: Thats what happens when people abuse price matching.

For me I could care less cause I just pick the grocery store with the cheapest items that week and I shop there. If that changes week to week, then so be it.
That's pretty much what I do; I will price match the odd thing here and there but only if that store runs out of the item. I'm looking at you, Giant Tiger and Food Basics. I don't even bother with Giant Tiger anymore as they never have their specials in stock. The last time I was looking for something I believe it was bacon, and it was a Tuesday. I asked the staff if they had any left, they said "nope! That's what you get for waiting until the last day of the flyer!" When I worked in management at a grocery store, we always tried our best to ensure flyer stock availability on all items and never took the "TOO *****ING BAD!!" approach.

Haven't been in one since; but I digress.
Deal Addict
Oct 1, 2008
1998 posts
414 upvotes
Ottawa
Here is an article explaining what is happening:

http://www.productjunkie.ca/no-frills-n ... -matching/
While other stores change their price matching policies in effort to keep customers from flocking to super centers for one stop shopping, No Frills is choosing to do the opposite in London, Ontario. Could No Frills change in price matching policy be yet another sign of retailers battering down the hatches in the recession that no one wants to publicly acknowledge exists especially during election season?

Curious, I called No Frills corporate public relations office to clarify the London Price Matching Policy:

I was told that the London Pilot project is a pro-active movement that will automatically match shelf prices to locally advertised prices by competitive and private label comparable brands in the immediate geographical trade area.

The “*Won’t Be Beat” guarantee is being replaced with a “We Price Match for You” guarantee.

If any major competitor flyer has a lower price for any identical product No Frills will proactively change shelf price to match lowest flyer price. Automatically.

Why are they doing this?

The internal memo which is not being released to the public, notes that only 3 % of all transactions involve price matching however, it can greatly effect the customer experience and speed in which customers can check out. No Frills states that they take pride in their flyer and low price guarantee and that they know what having great prices means to their consumers.

The new “We price match for you, flyer to flyer” guarantee claims to automatically lower shelf prices in No Frills locations if competitors advertised sale prices are lower than in store prices. No Frills claims No price matching by customers will be required.

It was clear in focus groups that were recently conducted that consumer trust in their prices is very important and in keeping to their commitment of low prices they are taking the opportunity to further reduce the prices on approximately 1/4 of their in store items.

No Frills believes this policy change will benefit the majority of No Frills customers as they will be lowering the regular prices of over 3,000 items in stores starting October 20th, 2015. Price Matching will effectively end October 23, 2015.
Deal Fanatic
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Sep 7, 2004
9135 posts
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West GTEH!
Yeah, recently was denied price match at my local NF.
NF said the picture wasn't the same as the product purchasing. I said it was a variety of the product and to read the description. Still denied. WTH??
NF is getting really picky now about price matching items.

Walmart might be my go-to-place for price matching in the future. No issues so far.
😎
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Dec 3, 2009
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It won't work for them...those decreased items that will be "actively price matched" will be OOS and their ordering systems will not catch the sale spikes....even manually ordering extra will be too little too late. One hand doesn't know what the other is doing. OTOH perhaps the idea is to be OOS on the price matched items....lol.


For PMing with pictures and descriptions, it can get confusing at times. One person in front of me was PMing with a SDM flyer that had "Neilson Cream" with a photo of half & half. Does it include 5% light...probably.. does in include 18% table cream and 35% whipping cream....possible but not likely.

Same as Christie cookie sales...Newton's are never on promotion.
Remember to be an RFD-er and NOT a degenerate.
Member
Oct 24, 2013
396 posts
175 upvotes
Walmart is the prostitute of retailers when it comes to price matching. They'll take your money no questions asked and you kind of feel dirty shopping there, but as a consumer there's a happy ending.
Deal Fanatic
Feb 17, 2007
6412 posts
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Mort Réal, QC
carmaster wrote: Always shop at Walmart. They price match everyone and use the Flipp app.
I've been denied PM at Walmart for bogus reasons. One example: wouldn't PM a dozen eggs because they didn't come from the same chickens... I'm not even lying which is the sad part. And I even confirmed with the customer service counter.

Never been denied PM at Maxi (No Frills QC) so far. Actually they are very lenient with it IMO. I hope they don't go downhill the way OP described it...
One thing I did notice, if a very good loss leader comes up from a "competitor" (ironically, often another Loblaw chain), they will simply take the stock out of the shelves. And since they don't offer rain checks on PM, they're home free.
Member
Oct 24, 2013
396 posts
175 upvotes
WHO wrote: I've been denied PM at Walmart for bogus reasons. One example: wouldn't PM a dozen eggs because they didn't come from the same chickens... I'm not even lying which is the sad part. And I even confirmed with the customer service counter.

Never been denied PM at Maxi (No Frills QC) so far. Actually they are very lenient with it IMO. I hope they don't go downhill the way OP described it...
One thing I did notice, if a very good loss leader comes up from a "competitor" (ironically, often another Loblaw chain), they will simply take the stock out of the shelves. And since they don't offer rain checks on PM, they're home free.
lmao... sounds like an episode of Maury.
Deal Guru
May 29, 2006
10930 posts
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desidavey wrote: Walmart is the prostitute of retailers when it comes to price matching. They'll take your money no questions asked and you kind of feel dirty shopping there, but as a consumer there's a happy ending.
my Walmart is great, friendly staff, good selection, good food options. always a pleasant shopping experience.
Deal Fanatic
Sep 16, 2004
9779 posts
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Toronto
markom wrote: Here is an article explaining what is happening:

http://www.productjunkie.ca/no-frills-n ... -matching/
Good Luck with this. Some No Frills can't even keep up with matching prices at the shelves and their cash registers.

I've stopped shopping at those as the lines are usually to long to waste time SCOPing 3 and 4 items.
Deal Fanatic
Apr 20, 2011
7747 posts
2750 upvotes
ON
My local no frills has been doing the 'automatic pricing' for years, as well as continues to normal price match. It's called competition.
Say freshco had watermelons in their flyer for 2.97 and no frills 3.97 - when in no frills that week, they were priced 2.97. Real example from this past summer.
Also noticed it when they both had a cryo pack beef sale. One had a slightly lower price in the flyer - visiting both stores that week they had the same price in-store.
Deal Addict
Jul 22, 2014
2261 posts
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Ottawa, ON
I never understood price matching. I'd rather give business to the store with lower price then beg another store to sell it to me for that price.
Deal Addict
Oct 1, 2008
1998 posts
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Ottawa
valeradunets wrote: I never understood price matching. I'd rather give business to the store with lower price then beg another store to sell it to me for that price.
Idea is pretty simple. Do all your shopping in a single location instead of running around to get the best price on various items. Saves time and money.
Deal Addict
Dec 17, 2001
2497 posts
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Ajax
A few things I've noticed about price matching, loss leaders in general..

When there's a sale of coke, there's an exact match of the price from pepsi. No matter what. Some sort of weird collusion going on, not sure.

Loss leaders rotate amongst the stores. So one week Food Basics has cheese, then next week it's No Frills. Never do 2 stores have the same loss leaders.

These no frills changes don't sound good, does that mean that they will automatically price adjust on meat? I was able to PM pork chops and ground beef this week, knocking off $5 the beef and another $5 off the pork.


Btw - Lean Ground hamburger prices are ridiculous right now. $15 for a tray? lol
Deal Addict
Dec 17, 2001
2497 posts
388 upvotes
Ajax
valeradunets wrote: I never understood price matching. I'd rather give business to the store with lower price then beg another store to sell it to me for that price.
It's to your detriment that you don't understand price matching. We're talking significant amounts of money and time being saved. An example. let's say you like Dempsters bagels, they are around $3.50. What if Walmart has them for $2, but you're at No Frills. No way are you going to drive to another store just for bagels. One of the stronger PM's I've done was get a butterball turkey at $23.00 instead of the stickered price of $44.00
Deal Guru
Feb 2, 2011
10185 posts
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Toronto
I've never been able to price match at No Frills, a few times I've been flat out told that they do no price match even though I thought they did. Other times I've been told they limit price matching to 2 items so what would even be the point?

I've had the same issues on limited price matching from Frescho, so now whenever I price match, I go to the Superstore or Walmart, hassle free every time.
Deal Addict
Dec 17, 2001
2497 posts
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Ajax
Variability wrote: I've never been able to price match at No Frills, a few times I've been flat out told that they do no price match even though I thought they did. Other times I've been told they limit price matching to 2 items so what would even be the point?
Sounds like a franchisee isn't playing ball. I thought it was 4 items? Maybe it's 2. Can't remember.
Deal Addict
Aug 13, 2011
1329 posts
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Kuurgen wrote: Sounds like a franchisee isn't playing ball. I thought it was 4 items? Maybe it's 2. Can't remember.
Yeah, that's just awful. I've never had an issue PMing at my local No Frills. I use the Flipp app to PM all the time and the cashiers there have never taken issue with it.

I've only ever had one problem PMing with a flyer and that was a year or two ago at Canadian Superstore. IIRC, the cashier wouldn't price match cream cheese because the flyer didn't list the exact amounts that were on sale, it just said something like 200g-700g and the size I wanted was 500g. Otherwise Superstore, Walmart, and No Frills have been great about it for me.
Deal Fanatic
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Dec 3, 2009
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Kuurgen wrote:
When there's a sale of coke, there's an exact match of the price from pepsi. No matter what. Some sort of weird collusion going on, not sure.

Loss leaders rotate amongst the stores. So one week Food Basics has cheese, then next week it's No Frills. Never do 2 stores have the same loss leaders.
These days most of the time retailers don't drive these sales, manufacturers do. Do it on the same week and the vendors can't supply the warehouses.
Remember to be an RFD-er and NOT a degenerate.
Sr. Member
Jan 10, 2005
530 posts
254 upvotes
markom wrote: Here is an article explaining what is happening:

http://www.productjunkie.ca/no-frills-n ... -matching/
So basically, trust us, we are awesome, it's already been adjusted, no need to price match.

At my last visit, the lean ground beef was 2$ a pound more than at Farm Boy, and the French Dijon mustard was 2.99 (vs 1.99 at at competitors). Just 2 examples.

So yeah, it's not working. Or it's working fine, if you are No Frills.

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