Ask Wendy: Never assume anything when it comes to prices

Never assume anything when it comes to prices. That was reader Ghitesh Deva’s lightbulb moment after an accidental price comparison in two sister stores.

He’d paid R69 each for LED light bulbs at Makro, and two days later he was astounded to see the identical product on sale at Game for half the price - R35 each.

“The retailer is far cheaper than the wholesaler in the same retail group,” he said. 

He felt compelled to voice his thoughts on the pricing disparity on Makro’s website.

“I said that I was aware that the pricing of products is on a willing seller, willing buyer basis, and that they were under no legal obligation to do anything.”

But nevertheless he requested that Makro “make good on a price match” as a goodwill gesture or allow him to return the light bulbs for a refund.

A week later Makro responded, putting the price disparity down to the quality of the product, and making no goodwill offer, which didn’t wash with Deva.

“Same manufacturer, same model, same packaging, same barcode,” he said. “There is no complexity.”

So I asked Massmart to comment. 

"It’s understandable that because Game and Makro are owned by the same company, consumers expect their prices to be similar, if not identical,” a spokesman said.

"But that’s not how it works. Each of Massmart’s businesses is a separate entity, each determining their own buying, marketing and pricing decisions.

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“Each chain has its own independent buying team which typically negotiates unique deals directly with the suppliers to their particular chain, so it does happen that product prices vary between chains, sometimes quite considerably.

“In terms of sales volumes Game has always sold considerably more LED light bulbs than Makro. 

“For Game, LED light bulbs are a hero line, and as a result they have devoted considerable resource, investment and effort in reducing pricing,” the spokesman said.

Game’s normal price for that light bulb is R45, and when Deva spotted the product in-store, it was on sale at a promotional price of just R35.

“While we understand that this response is likely to be of little consolation to our customer, we do hope that it goes some way toward contextualising the price discrepancies that do sometimes occur between brands within the group."

But such pricing discrepancies did motivate the brand with the “less competitive” prices to improve their pricing, the spokesman said.

Moral of the story: find out what your favourite chain store's hero brands are, and don’t assume that the big, warehouse-type outlets will always have the cheapest prices.