A new online budget supermarket that claims to offer up to 60% off food and household products has launched in the UK - but is it any good?
Swedish retailer Motatos is being dubbed as a rival to discount chains Aldi and Lidl.
It keeps prices down by offering items that are nearing best before dates, cancelled orders or have outdated packaging.
Motatos says it is good for the planet too - and claims to have already saved roughly 40,000 tonnes of food and consumer products from going to waste in the Nordics and Germany.
The Mirror decided to give the new cut-price retailer a test-run to see how its prices stacked up - and here’s what we found.
Motatos website is easy to navigate, with its products split up into different categories - such as food, drinks, cupboard, baby and pets.
There is also a search bar, so you can type in the item you’re looking for.
The first thing we noticed is that there isn’t a huge number of products available, as it is based on what the website has available at the time.
This may mean you can’t find your favourite brand in stock right now.
However, there is a good selection of big names - for example, Heinz, Walkers, Dove, Cif and Finish.
After selecting £40 worth of goods, we placed our order on a Monday and a huge box arrived on Thursday - so three days later.
A lot of the products on Motatos are cheapest when you buy them in bulk.
Here is what we ordered and how much they cost:
- Heinz Tomato Ketchup 570g: £1.50
- Aquafresh Toothpaste Intense Clean Lasting Fresh Single Tube 75g - 2x for £3
- Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes 500g - 2x for £4.50
- Coca Cola Cherry Zero 1.75L - £1.25
- Original Source Shower Gel Lemon and Teatree - 3x for £3.60
- Listerine Total Care Sensitive Clean Mint Mouthwash 500ml - £2.99
- Comfort Fabric Conditioner Pure 750ml - 2x for £2.90
- Finish Dishwasher Classic 110 Tablets - £8.99
- PG Tips Original Pyramid 40 Teabags - 2x for £2.40
- Costa Signature Decaf Blend Mocha Italia No 3 200g - 2x for £4.50
- Robinsons Double Strength Blackcurrant 1L - 2x for £2.90
- Doritos Flaming Hot Tangy Cheese Crisps 150g - 2x for 60p
- Galaxy Salted Caramel Bar 135g - 3x for £1.20
Total: £40.43
As the products you'll find on Motatos are sometimes ones where the packaging is out of date, it can be hard to compare like-for-like.
For example, we purchased a 570g bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup for £1.50, which works out at around 26.3p per 100g - but we couldn't see any stores that still sell this size bottle.
The closest comparison was a 250g bottle sold in Morrisons for £1.69, which is 67.6p per 100g - so you're getting better value at Motatos.
We also couldn't find Aquafresh Intense Clean Lasting Fresh Toothpaste sold in the major supermarkets.
We purchased this for £1.50 (two for £3) on Motatos and the cheapest we spotted elsewhere was £1.89 for the same 75ml tube.
The best value Kellogg's Crunchy Nut we found in the supermarkets cost £2.50 for a 500g box - but we got the same size for £2.25 (two for £4.50) on Motatos.
In terms of value for money, this works out at roughly 45p per 100g - the same as if you'd spent £4.50 on a 1kg box in Asda.
Not all items were cheapest only at Motatos.
We suspected our Finish Dishwasher Classic 110 Tablets were a bargain at £8.99, however you can purchase the same size box for the same price in B&M.
Motatos was also beaten for price on some items.
We purchased PG Tips 40 Original Pyramid Teabags for £1.20 (two for £2.40) - but we did find the same number of PG Tips teabags on sale for £1 at Waitrose.
It is worth noting that Motatos sometimes only has one or two variations of a particular item - which means you might be able to find an almost identical version for less elsewhere.
For example, we bought a 500ml bottle of Listerine Total Care Sensitive Clean Mint Mouthwash for £2.99 - but Listerine Total Care Mouthwash in the same size costs £2.39 from Superdrug.
We also found a more basic version of Aquafresh toothpaste also weighing 75ml costing just 80p from Tesco, compared to the £1.50 we paid at Motatos.
Our verdict
There are bargains to be had at Motatos - particular if you are after branded goods, or a very particular version of a product.
However, you should always still compare prices before making any purchase as it isn't always the absolute cheapest.
Motatos also doesn't take into account supermarket own-label goods, which are normally always better value than brands.
Finally, its up to 60% promise is based on the recommended retail price (RRP) of that particular item.
This means this isn't based on individual store pricing which can be lower than the RRP.
In terms of delivery costs, we didn't pay anything as delivery is free over £40.
If you checkout will less, a £2.99 delivery charge will apply. Shipping is through Evri (Hermes) and DPD
