Saturday, September 18, 2010

No Frills "Will Be Beat" 2

Today my wife and I returned to the scene of the crime, Enzo's No Frills in Richmond Hill. 

This time we came armed with the latest Wal-Mart flyer hoping to price match some Mr. Christie Oreo Cookies and Nabisco's Ritz Crackers.  Why the Wal-Mart flyer...REWIND to last time!

"I asked if Wal-Mart was a competitor. She said yes..."

So we thought we would see if Wal-Mart was still a competitor this week because, as you know from last week and to test my theory that No Frills "Won't Be Beat" marketing sham actually is:

"We Won't Be Beat by a select few competitors who we refuse to provide a clearly publicly posted list of because they may beat us in price in the future and we wouldn't want to have to admit that...so we have to keep this list a moving target due to several factors...Read: the list changes as it suits us and screw the consumer with a valid case". 

So after finishing our grocery shopping I ventured forth to cashier with the Oreo Cookies, Ritz Crackers and Wal-Mart flyer in hand.  The cashier inquired if I wanted to price match.  I replied that I was.  She said that if I was going to price match I needed to go over there, and she motioned to where the cashier supervisor was standing.  I said this is the checkout and there is nobody behind us, lets do it all here.  She called over the Cashier Supervisor and she reviewed the Wal-Mart flyer and quickly put through the price match transaction without any fuss.   

Lesson:  This week Wal-Mart is still considered a competitor by No Frills.  Zellers? Don't ask even though they maybe across the street.

The Cashier took over and quickly rang the rest of the groceries through without any issues.

So on the third attempt, we finally got No Frills to price match.  We now have a list, courtesy of the Cashier Supervisor at Enzo's No Frills from our last visit and Paula from No Frills Customer Service of competitors they are willing to price match with.  This this list in hand, all by doing a little bit of research on our part because No Frills still refuses to post the list of competitors online, we cruise the flyers on Fridays in preparation for Saturday's shopping trip.  

The moral of the story here is No Frills and LCL Companies provide an awesome marketing campaign on "Won't Be Beat" with flyers, instore cardboard signage everywhere, t-shirts, websites and much more.  But when it comes time to the actual price matching, it gets complicated...who is a competitor (SECRET!), why won't you price match with this chain (SECRET!) and where can I find the list (SECRET!).  Thus it is hard to nail them down.   It makes one crazy. 

In the end though, LCL Companies still adheres to the Scanning Code of Practice at least.  How do I know?  In the past two months I've walked out of Enzo's No Frills with free Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent, No Name Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips and, today's score, No Name Smooth Peanut Butter. All of this because of the shelf tag in store doesn't match what comes out on the cash register receipt.

Gotta love Enzo's No Frills, there's always something good going on there!

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