The Cost Of Living: Why Are Singles Ignored By Supermarkets?

This is the transcript of my YouTube video "The Cost Of Living: Why Are Singles Ignored By Supermarkets?".

Supermarkets regularly offer deals in store on different items.  They say it’s because they care about their customers but the real reason is that they get a boost in sales whenever they do a 2 for 1 deal or other deals that require you to buy in bulk.  They might even be able to attract customers who usually shop with their competitors for the duration of the deals they offer.  However, the only people who benefit from these deals are the supermarkets themselves and large families or households.

Only large families or households can either afford to buy in bulk or, with food items, eat the bulk bought food quick enough before it goes off.  Some people may not have the space to store large amounts of non-perishable grocery items either so buying them in bulk isn’t an option either.

My local Morrisons used to sell some packs of pre-prepared salad on a two for £1 deal which was great for me because I could have a side salad for four meals, half a bag of salad each, and I would be able to finish off the salad before it went off.  Now, however, the deal is ‘buy four packs for the price of three’.  I have to cut down on the amount of food I eat anyway these days but I couldn’t have eaten four bags of salad in time to stop at least some of the produce to perish.

The same applies to many other food items – bread, fruit, fresh meat or fish – whenever there’s a deal, it tends to be aimed towards those who can store or afford to bulk buy their groceries.

So why are people who live alone being ignored?  If a supermarket can afford to sell items on bulk buy deals, doesn’t that mean that they could simply reduce the price of the items instead.  Rather than doing a ‘2 for 1’ deal, they could simply reduce the price of a single item by 20%.  Reducing their per item prices would be better for the customers who can’t afford to buy in bulk or for whom buying in bulk would result in wastage.

Being diabetic means I have to cut down on my carbohydrate intake so I have to reduce the amount of bread I consume but I still have to buy full-sized loaves of bread.  Yes, some brands do smaller sized loaves but not, unfortunately, the ones with the lowest carbohydrate content which are already usually more expensive anyway and so I end up either eating too much bread so I haven’t wasted money on it or I end up throwing away half a loaf of bread because I don’t have room in my freezer for the other half and it goes mouldy.

I can’t be the only person in the country who sees this and is negatively affected by this obsession with bulk buy deals in supermarkets.  The cost-of-living crisis isn’t one that just affects large families or households and, although individually single people may not spend as much on groceries as families do, collectively our purchasing power must at least be worth considering.

And, although I’m only talking about single people, I realise that some elderly people, singles or couples, would benefit from a reduced unit price rather than a concentration on bulk buy deals in supermarkets too.

Supermarkets might get a sales boost from these bulk buy deals but a permanent reduction in unit prices on a wide range of products might provide a steady raised income as people could save money on the essentials and be able to afford the odd luxury item.