Bibliography

 Title: Supermarket price war: Can they all be cheapest?

 Year of publication: 2011 

 URL : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16002303

 Date of access : January 2012

Comment: this is a very reliable source for the body of my essay. It made the comparations between the big 4 supermarkets and pointed out what the supermarket was actually doing behind each other’s backs.

Title: The truth about supermarket price war

Year of publication: 2011

URL:   http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017yvfp/Panorama_The_Truth_About_Supermarket_Price_Wars/       

Date of access: 5^th December 2011

Comment: This video reveals how Tesco actually did in its “Big price drop” promotion. It is clearly that in this price war between supermarkets, customers are the one who are worse off because deals are actually not the deals. Some items are even more expensive than they were before they are put on the promotion.

Title: Tesco accused of putting prices up on dozen products before cutting them in its ‘Big Price Drop’

Year of Publication: 2011

URL: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2050043/Tesco-Big-Price-Drop-Supermarket-accused-putting-prices-dozens-products-cutting-again.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Date of access:  January 2012

Comment: the truth about Tesco “big price drop” promotion. This article accompanies with the observation by BBC reporter in Panorama program would be a big support in my essay. 

Title: Sales see inflation fall to 4.2% in  December

Year of publication: 2012

URL:  http://news.sky.com/home/business/article/16150573

Date of access:  January 2012

Comment: The consumer prices index ( CPI ) fell from 4.8% to 4.2% last November due to the heavy discount in retailing industry and supermarket price war

Title: Tesco market share dips below 30%

Year of publication: 2012

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16817254

Date of access: February 2012

Comment: This article indicates the changing in position between the supermarkets in the UK. It seems like most of the main supermarket other than Tesco was trying to reposition during the price war

Title: Tesco annual report and financial statement 2011

Year of publication: 2012

URL: http://www.tescoplc.com/media/417/tesco_annual_report_2011_final.pdf

Date of access:  February  2012

Comment: Tesco has announced about their sale and profit last year. I am going to use this information to assess their performance last year and the ‘ Big price drop’ affect their financial performance 

Tile: AQA Economics 5^th edition

Author: Alain Anderton  

Title of chapter: Chapter 47: Oligopoly; Chapter 48: The kinked demand curve theory of oligopoly; Chapter 49: Game theory

Page number of chapter: 314 - 328

Year of publication: 2008

ISBN:  978 1 4058 9238 4

Date of access:  November 2011              

Comment: This text book provides the theory about the structure of UK supermarket industry and explains why the other supermarkets follow Tesco in this price war.

More sources

Since I had my January exams so I couldn't update my blog for a long time. 

For the past few months I've been collecting lots of banners and posters from the big 4 supermarkets, which indicate clearly their price war. 

The picture above can be seen a lot on the street. This is about Tesco's saving deals. They are trying to get customer come through the doors by reducing the prices of some basic items like: foods. Besides, walking throughout the store, people can easily see more deals like this: 

Is Tesco trying to increase sale or what's the purpose of setting up the deals? 

The other 3 supermarket: Asda, Sainsburry and Morrison are taking their actions too. Asda is keeping their customer by the price guarantee scheme. 

And Sainsburry's is doing the brand match comparison 

According to my observation, the 4 major supermarkets are fighting for more market share in the industry. However, people will question about the other supermarkets like waitrose or co-operative, are they in the supermarket price war ? I will do some more research in this area to find out about the causes and consequences of this price war and who gains or loses in the end of the competition. 

Sources

I watched the Panorama programme yesterday and i decided to share this to everyone. The reporter pointed out clearly that we, as the consumers, are actually more worse off when the supermarkets do the price war. The supermarkets put the price up for some items and then say it's on the promotion but it turns out that it's actually the original price. Moreover, they use some kind of psychological pricing so consumers can't really work out that they have to pay more for the items. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017yvfp/Panorama_The_Truth_About_Supermarket_Price_Wars/

Although the big 4 supermarkets now seem a bit more quiet than in October. But I really think consumers should all know about what the deal and discounts really are when they shop at the supermarkets 

My supervisor's main advice and comment

I had a talk with my supervisor a few day ago and she thought I needed to be a little more precise with my title, such as: " What are the causes and consequences of the supermarket price war been the 4 major supermarkets: Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrison?".

I think it sounds better than my initial title so I am going to change the title of my project to what she suggested. She also thought I should work more on this topic with my Economics and Business teachers.

Additionally, I am on my way to complete my project plan  and work out an action plan for the project

First ideas for research and development my project

I will start doing my project by collecting newspapers and articles online about the price war, which is going on between the big 4 supermarkets in the UK: Tesco, Asda, Sainsburry's and Morrison.

I will also interview some consumers among these supermarkets to find out whether they find themselves benefiting from the price war or not
 

First idea for project title

"What are the causes and consequences of the supermarket price war?