SHOPPERS buying popular health products can save up to half price by simply buying at the right point of the year.
From toothpaste to deodorant, the cost of personal care items can vary wildly from week to week, research from consumer campaign group Which? showed.
Big price fluctuations were found across top-selling brands on 15 products at high street stores including Boots, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Superdrug, Tesco and Aldi.
Which? monitored costs between March 2023 to February this year, excluding multi-buy offers and loyalty prices.
The study found that products are regularly on a promotion cycle and shoppers could get good deals if they look around for health products – and stock up when the price is right.
For example, shoppers can get the best deals on suncream in spring and summer when demand is usually highest.
The biggest price difference was found at Asda, where Nivea Protect and Moisture Sun Lotion SPF 30 (200ml) cost £6 from April to August 2023 and then more than doubled to £13 in September.
Everyday items such as toothpaste also saw big price movement.
Colgate’s Max White Ultimate Radiance toothpaste cost from £11 up to £25.20 throughout the year in Waitrose while Asda and Boots commonly priced the product at £12.
In another case, Listerine Advanced Defence Gum Crisp Mint mouthwash cost as low as £3 and up to £6 at Boots.
Sure Maximum Protection Clean Scent Anti-Perspirant deodorant cost between £3.35 and £5 at Asda and £3.50 and £5.25 at Waitrose.
There were also drastic cost differences noted in the cost of shaving.
The Gillette Labs Razor with Exfoliating Bar cost £22.49 at Morrisons when it was full price but was frequently reduced to half that amount at £11.25.
Medication for allergies also had significant price variations.
A packet of 30 Piriteze Hayfever and Allergy Relief Tablets at Waitrose was reduced in price from £11.50 to £8 between May and July 2023 and then it cost £11.55.
The most stable prices were found on popular soap brands Carex and Palmolive, as well as Radox shower gel.
How to bag a bargain
SUN Savers Editor Lana Clements explains how to find a cut-price item and bag a bargain…
Sign up to loyalty schemes of the brands that you regularly shop with.
Big names regularly offer discounts or special lower prices for members, among other perks.
Sales are when you can pick up a real steal.
Retailers usually have periodic promotions that tie into payday at the end of the month or Bank Holiday weekends, so keep a lookout and shop when these deals are on.
Sign up to mailing lists and you’ll also be first to know of special offers. It can be worth following retailers on social media too.
When buying online, always do a search for money off codes or vouchers that you can use vouchercodes.co.uk and myvouchercodes.co.uk are just two sites that round up promotions by retailer.
Scanner apps are useful to have on your phone. Trolley.co.uk app has a scanner that you can use to compare prices on branded items when out shopping.
Bargain hunters can also use B&M’s scanner in the app to find discounts in-store before staff have marked them out.
And always check if you can get cashback before paying which in effect means you’ll get some of your money back or a discount on the item.
One of the more costly health products that the consumer champion looked at was condoms.
A 12-pack of Durex Real Feel Non Latex Condoms fluctuated between £11 and £18.15 throughout the year at Waitrose.
The same product fluctuated by £5.50 at Superdrug and £5 at Boots compared to their best offers in store.
Asda was found to be the cheapest supermarket overall for health products, based on a comparison of 107 like-for-like health and personal care goods against Boots, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsburys, Superdrug, Tesco and Waitrose throughout the year.
Ele Clark, Which retail editor, said: “Retailers constantly change products’ prices based on demand, seasonality, agreements with manufacturers and what their competitors are doing.
“Which’s advice in this fast-changing market is to keep an eye on the prices of products you buy regularly and stock up when the price is low – or ask yourself if it’s really essential to have your preferred brand and consider switching to a cheaper product that can do just as good a job.”
Bag the best deals
Just because something is on offer, or is part of a sale, it doesn’t mean it’s always a good deal.
There are plenty of comparison websites out there that’ll check prices for you – so don’t be left paying more than you have to.
Most of them work by comparing the prices across hundreds of retailers.
Here are some that we recommend:
- Google Shopping is a tool that lets users search for and compare prices for products across the web. Simply type in keywords, or a product number, to bring up search results.
- Price Spy logs the history of how much something costs from over 3,000 different retailers, including Argos, Amazon, eBay and supermarkets. Once you select an individual product you can quickly compare which stores have the best price and which have it in stock.
- Idealo is another website that lets you compare prices between retailers. All shoppers need to do is search for the item they need and the website will rank them from the cheapest to the most expensive one.
- CamelCamelCamel only works on goods being sold on Amazon. To use it, type in the URL of the product you want to check the price of.
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