Supermarkets: just too big to care?

In this weekend's Guardian there is a feature about the pricing of wine at the major supermarkets. It is interesting because it demonstrates the whole grey area of what is ethical behaviour, ie the fine line between legal practice and what is acceptable to business, and what is acceptabale to customers.

mySupermarket.co.uk has compared the price of wine at major supermarkets over a period of time. It has shown that some of the "special offers" or "half-price" wines are not quite what they seem. To make these claims legally a retailer has to advertise the product at a higher price for a certain period of time before it can be advertised as discounted. And this is what the supermakets have been doing and will continue to do i.e.advertise a £5 wine for a certain period of time at £10, then discount to £5:50 say. Nothing illegal. But in terms of fair treatment of customers and transparency this has got to be dubious practice as consumers become increasingly confused by the complex pricing adopted and increasingly duped into so called "good deals" and "little bit extras".

Some may argue that this "clever" and competitive pricing is all fair game and what business, profitability and shareholder return is all about. But to have genuine customer focus (which will eventually translate into a more sustainable and profitable business) there really has to be a more ethical approach and commitment to treating customers fairly. Presumably the supermarkets are now just too big to care.