Doctors claim that supermarkets sell alcohol at a loss and make up their money by increasing the price of basic foodstuffs. Thomas Moore reports.
TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: The supermarket deals on alcohol look too good to be true—and according to new research, they are. Doctors found shoppers are paying more for everyday groceries to make up for the losses supermarkets incur from selling alcohol below cost. The only people who benefit from cheap booze are those who drink dangerous amounts. The average shopper in effect subsidizes their bingeing.
DOCTOR: They’re using it as a marketing tactic to get people into their store in order to sell other products that they’ve got a better profit margin on. And, well, alcohol is a dangerous product. We can’t do that. They shouldn’t be allowed to do that.
REPORTER: We bought the cheapest bottle of vodka from each of the big four supermarkets. Sainsbury’s charged £7.48 for a standard 70cl bottle. The others were cheaper still. Asda, Morrisons and Tesco sell vodka for as little as £6.98. Now out of that they need to pay alcohol duty of £5.94. Then there’s VAT of 91p, leaving them with just 13 pence to cover the manufacturing, packaging and distribution. It’s hard to believe there’s any money in it for the supermarkets. The researchers did the maths on the effect of forcing the supermarkets to charge more for booze. A minimum price of 50 pence per unit would make alcohol 24% more expensive. But supermarkets could use that extra profit to reduce the price of all other products by 2.8%. Hazardous drinkers would then pay an extra £160 per year. Those who drink responsibly would save between 14 and 71 pounds a year. But the retailers insist discounts aren’t the problem.
RETAILER: Figures from our own retail members suggest the offer’s usually taken advantage of by many customers who are buying products to stock up. They’re simply taking advantage of the discounts. They’re not going to drink, consume that product straight away, so the idea that there’s an automatic link between promotions and consumption is ridiculous.
REPORTER: But there is growing support for a price rise. The Scottish government is expected to introduce legislation shortly, and England’s chief medical officer has also called for an end to cheap deals.
LESSON
I used this video in a lesson with my English for Marketing students. You can find a glossary, a gap-fill activity and a discussion activity in this Word file: Cheap Supermarket Booze
ARTICLE
• Medics Warn Shoppers 'Duped By Booze Deals' (Sky News)
