Shoppers need never pay full price for their favourite supermarket groceries again, according to consumer champions Which?. The watchdog found that several popular items, including Kellogg's Special K cereal, Tropicana Orange Juice, and Mini Cheddars, are discounted at one of the major supermarkets 99% of the year.
Which? Research Methodology
To conduct their research, Which? logged thousands of popular groceries for a year from March 2025 to March 2026 at a variety of supermarkets. Their list included Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose. By doing so, they identified patterns in the supermarkets' discount cycles.
From this, it was revealed that shoppers could be paying 'over the odds' for popular food items when they are not on promotion, as they are probably on offer at another supermarket. This was true for several grocery items such as Kellogg's Special K cereal, Tropicana Orange Juice, and Fox's Chocolate Biscuits. These goodies were all found to be on offer at one of the major supermarkets or another every single day of the year.
Wine and Other Favorites
Several bottles of wine were also seen to always be on promotion somewhere too. These included Yellow Tail merlot and Taittinger champagne. Which? also revealed that deals on other grocery items were so common that customers should never need to pay full price for these either. This included Jammie Dodgers raspberry biscuits, Penguin bars, Mini Cheddars, Twiglets, Kettle Chips and Onken yoghurt.
Patterns in Promotions
Which?'s latest investigation suggests that not only does it matter where you shop but also when. Knowing this information can help customers bag their favourite essentials at a discounted rate every time. Promotions in supermarkets often follow a pattern of three or four weeks at a lower price, followed by slightly longer at a higher price, which is then repeated.
According to Which? research, Fox's Chocolatey Milk Chocolate Rounds cost £2 to £2.75 when full priced, but for 99% of the year you could buy them at one of the major supermarkets for £1.75 or less. With Special K Original cereal, the 440g box could be purchased for £2.85 or less if customers shopped around, compared to the full price of between £3.30 and £3.50. This specific box of Special K was seen to be discounted at Ocado 51% of the year, Tesco 50%, Waitrose 48%, Sainsbury's 45%, Asda 29% and Morrisons 29%.
Further Examples
Research also showed the 1.5 litre Tropicana Orange Juice Original could be purchased at £4.28 to £4.75 when full priced, but the juice was found being sold at £3.50 or less 99% of the time at one of the major supermarkets. Onken Set Natural Yoghurt was found as low as £1.25 at one of the major supermarkets 99% of the time throughout the year. The 130g bag of Kettle Chips in the lightly salted flavour could always be bought for £1.65 or less at one of the major supermarkets instead of £2.40 to £2.65 at full price.
