Next and Primark shoppers have become savvy to a "cheeky" tactic used by the stores.
When shopping in the sales, it's always satisfying to check out how much you're saving when compared to the original price, with the initial price often being hidden by sales stickers. But one Next shopper found nothing but disappointment under some of the stickers as the hidden price was less than the amended price.
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. She posted a video of her findings to TikTok where other shoppers advised that Primark also do the same.
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In the clip, 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, The Mirror reported.
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 video 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 added: "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 said: "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."
Primark gave an explanation for the situation as they told 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."
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