I nearly fell into a trap yesterday. Browsing chocolate gifts for my chocoholic friend’s upcoming birthday, I nearly paid much more money than I needed to. Luckily, at the last minute, I decided to run a price check to ensure I was getting the best deal. And I was shocked at what I found.
A Cautionary Tale!
The site I was looking at is called Cadbury Gifts Direct. The name implies that this is an arm of Cadbury that specialises in gifts. The direct part of the name made me think I was buying directly from Cadbury’s. It was only when I spotted the phone number on the website and it wasn’t an 0121 number, that I realised something was amiss.
A little digging revealed that this site was not run directly by Cadburys, as I had thought, but by an independent firm licensed by Mondelez International. Because I had thought I was buying directly from Cadburys, I assumed that I would be getting the best deal because they were cutting out the middleman. I was wrong again.
The product I was interested in was Milk Tray – after all who doesn’t love a box of Milk Tray for their birthday? On the Cadbury Gifts Direct website, a 360g box of Milk Tray comes in at £8.49. The same box in Asda costs just £4.50. That’s nearly half the price of the gift site.
Check Bulk Prices Too
The company also offers bulk boxes. Buying multiple boxes would make it cheaper, right? Not necessarily. The 530g box of Milk Tray Chocolates is priced on the Cadbury Gifts Direct site at £12.00. Or you can buy a box of 6 for £72, saving precisely nothing. The same box of chocolates at Asda is £7, so you can buy 6 for £42. You will be saving yourself £30.
Now, please don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against Cadbury Gifts Direct (except for the pricing!). But it does illustrate that even the thriftiest shopper can be caught out if you don’t check the price elsewhere before you buy. In this case, because of the name, I fell into the trap (intentional or otherwise) that I was buying directly from Cadburys and, therefore, getting the best deal.
Using the Milk Tray 530g box as an example, prices can vary wildly depending on where you buy. Here is an example of how much these chocolates can vary in price depending on where you shop
- Amazon.co.uk – £15.99
- Asda – £7
- Morrisons – £9
- Room to Bloom – £7.50
- Cadbury Gifts Direct – £12
- Fashion World – £18
- Tesco – £9
(Prices correct at 20/08/2024)
As you can see, there is quite a range of prices, but generally, supermarkets offer the product much cheaper than gift companies and specialist retailers.
So, lesson learned. Before you purchase, it’s worth running a quick search to check the average price of what you are buying. And always check out who you are buying from. Are you buying direct from the manufacturer or via a middleman? Lastly, shop around if you want to make sure that you are getting the very best deal.
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