When shopping in the sales, it's always satisfying to check out how much you're saving when compared to the original price. One shopper, however, was recently left unimpressed after sifting through homeware items at Next, only to find cheaper price stickers below the visible ones, and some say it's just the same at Primark.
Make-up artist Xenia Mua had headed to her local branch of Next to check out any post-Christmas bargains and was surprised to spot the supposedly cheeky stickers. In a clip shared to TikTok, an amused Xenia can be seen peeling back stickers on various homeware items to reveal lower prices beneath.
One £10 price sticker on a pack of pillowcases was peeled back to reveal an £8 one underneath, while a £12 fitted sheet was shown to have once cost just £9. A king-size duvet set, costing £40 sticker, also had a £35 price tag hidden beneath the new one.
Amused by her find, Xenia, who goes by the TikTok username @xenia.mua, captioned her post 'Christmas Sale' with a laughing face, including the sarcastic hashtag #bargainshopping.
The vid has clocked up more than 1.8 million views and counting, with some blasting the stickers as being 'so out of order', and declaring they've seen similar tags at Primark.
Those who've worked at Next and other similar stores have however explained that this is actually perfectly standard practice and is in fact down to changes brought on by inflation, not the January sales.
One former employee commented: "I work at Next, it’s not a sale price sticker it’s price changes. Every so often we have to do price changes on items due to inflation etc."-
Another wrote: "Next employee here! Everything is getting more expensive so we have sticker sheets to put them at the correct price for the present time. Not sales."
A third explained: "I work at Next and this is due to inflation. Every three to four months prices are evaluated and changed depending on the economy, some increase or decrease."
In a previous report by The Sun, a Next spokesperson stated: "Due to general cost price inflation, some repricing is necessary once goods arrive in the UK from overseas suppliers. The goods shown in the video are NOT Sale (i.e. clearance) goods – they are full price (current) stock."
A Primark spokesperson has also given the following statement to the Mirror: “We are committed to offering the very best value on the high street, something we know is more important to our customers than ever.
"We announced in April that due to increases in costs, we would have no option but to increase prices across a selection of this season’s ranges. Customers may have noticed this in the form of new price stickers – this is because some of our stock had already left our suppliers’ factories when the decision was taken so these were updated in-store.”
Do you have a retail-related story to share? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
