The next victim of the recession? (SuperDrug)

Member Name: Mrs-LT

Product:	SuperDrug
Date:	20/02/09 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sell Haribo sweets cheap

Disadvantages: Loads - see review

Superdrug sell toiletries, cosmetics, perfume, sweets, drinks, accessories and magazines. It used to be the poor man's Boots, and I don't mean that as an insult. They sold cheaper alternatives, cheaper makeup brands and cheaper gift sets at Christmas. You could nearly always rely on them to sell everyday toiletries at a lower price than Boots too.

So what went wrong?

Well I would honestly love to know this, but they certainly aren't as cheap any more! The cheap Christmas gifts (and the wide selection they always sold at unbeatable prices including lots of men's skincare sets) disappeared from one Christmas to the next, and in their place came a carbon copy of the Boots policy of upping prices and putting a 3 for 2 offer on so the unsuspecting public don't realise they are being ripped off.

Now, this is all well and good but for two things:

-Boots gift sets may be overpriced but they sell premium quality goods. Superdrug largely sell boxed cheap and nasty tat. So in a way you can forgive Boots - you know you are paying above the odds, and I always try to buy gifts in the January sale for the following year to avoid this, but even if you do end up paying full price the week before Christmas you know the person receiving the gift is unlikely to be disappointed. With Superdrug, they cater to a much lower end market as far as their products go, but their prices (for gift sets) no longer adequately reflect this.

-Boots offer Advantage Card Points (4p in the £1 to be precise) which slightly - and I do mean ever so slightly - offsets their hiked-up prices, at least psychologically to their customers. Superdrug do not do this.

There is also the choice of cosmetics. Superdrug sell Max Factor and L'Oreal but that is about as high a makeup brand that they stock. This obviously limits their appeal as lots of people prefer more expensive ranges.

They have recently branched out and larger stores now contain a pharmacy too which is a useful addition.

The most annoying thing about this shop is that when you are getting served the assistant always asks 'do you need any stamps or mobile phone top-ups today?'. Now if I did, I would have asked for them wouldn't I? It really is so irksome that it puts me off shopping there now as I think this aggressive marketing of such random items is totally unnecessary.

I love the fact that they often have bags of Haribo jellies on BOGOF for 99p (or sometimes even 89p) though!

Overall, this is not the shop for me. When prices were lower and Superdrug each had their own end of the market they could co-exist happily, but now it seems as though Superdrug are modelling themselves far too much on Boots (especially with pricing) and they no longer seem to have their own niche in the market. Places such as Bodycare offer bargain cosmetics, Boots sell more expensive ones and a winder range, so what exactly do Superdrug do now?

Summary: Can't see this shop being around much longer