1+5 free, the completely crazy promotion of supermarkets in Belgium that raises questions and gets criticized!

Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2022 at 11:33 a.m.

Par Sudinfo

For the past few days, the Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn has been making waves thanks to an incredible promotion: with the purchase of one product, you receive five others free. It also exists in 1+1, 1+2, 1+3 and 1+4 versions, but raises some questions.

Faced with the crisis, Albert Heijn decided to act, as reported by our colleagues from Gondola. With the purchase of certain products, customers receive another five free. For example, with a pot of salad spread, you receive five sandwiches; with an airfryer, you get five free bags of kibble.

This promotion is also available in 1+1, 1+2, 1+3 and 1+4 versions, which should make customers happy, but there is a but: Albert Heijn is not at his wit’s end. test and it is very often a promotion which aims to attract media attention to supermarkets, but which is quickly no longer available on the shelves.

Increase your market share

“Free media attention and publicity is worth much more to them than the cost of a few free products. They are at the limit of what is allowed and what is not in Flanders in terms of promotion, but it is very unlikely that a politician will denounce them. The aim of this type of action is to increase their market share”, explains Pierre-Alexandre Billiet, CEO of Gondola.

The brand has already suffered a number of criticisms and the economic inspection will also go through there to check that they are not selling at a loss, which is prohibited in Belgium. Questions also arise because margins in this sector are already very limited due to high energy and raw material prices. This therefore puts the rest of the market under pressure, when it is already in difficulty.