Tesco undercuts rivals with £10 specs offer

Tesco has entered the price war sparked by a provocative pricing promotion in Asda practices (News 23.10.09) by offering frames with single-vision lenses and scratch-resistant coating for £10.

The promotion, which began on November 30, will run until January 12 and includes a choice of 12 frames. Tesco said that if demand was great enough then it would consider making the £10 price permanent. To further entice customers into its 128 practices during the offer period, the supermarket is also offering customers free eye tests.

Tesco's commercial manager Judith Robinson said: 'We are using this offer as a trial to see how popular the demand will be and by limiting it we can commit to the high level of service our customers expect.'

Describing its offer as the cheapest available in practice, Tesco made comparison to its rival's pricing structures by highlighting that 'the cheapest price for a pair of glasses on UK high streets is £25, but many opticians still charge at least £50 and upwards'.

A Tesco spokesperson told Optician that it was running the promotion 'in order to be competitive on the UK high street, not in reaction to anybody else, but just to remain competitive'.

However, the supermarket took the opportunity to criticise its competitors for charging customers 'hidden extras' that make them 'nervous about visiting an optician'. It implied that this nervousness had been responsible for a slump in UK frame sales by citing data from retail analysts Business Benchmarks, which reported the UK optical market is declining by 9 per cent each year 'as consumers fear the costs of a visit to the opticians'.