Leclerc’s inflation protection disappointed those customers, but that was to be expected

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A receipt from E. Lerclerc and his delivery of the “Anti-Inflation Shield”.

INFLATION – “We defend your purchasing power”the company assures on its website. “Keep prices down to earth”, is another slogan. Since announcing its anti-inflation shield on May 2, retail giant E. Leclerc has presented itself as a bulwark against rising food prices, the aftermath of poor harvests and skyrocketing energy prices, also linked to the war in Ukraine.

At the start of the operation, CEO Michel-Édouard Leclerc himself went to the television sets to explain this sought-after offer “spoils its 18 million customers” against the crisis. “We will protect prices. We will build inflation protection. We started with 120 items that are most consumed in France. If these prices are exceeded, we compensate in the form of a ticket (on the loyalty card)”, the businessman explained on BFMTV. Since then, the measure has been extended to 234 products.

But after paying, the discount that appears at the bottom of the receipt is sometimes disappointing, as evidenced by numerous comments and photos that customers have posted on social networks in recent weeks.

“I have just done my shopping at Leclerc, I received more than €167 and on the receipt. Aha “ANTI-INFLATION SHIELD” and below that I see the amount: €0.10. Thanks Leclerc, I don’t feel the inflation with you,” one customer tweeted with sarcasm. “I’m at a loss for words… I’m overwhelmed with joy,” quipped another when confronted with a 5 cent discount. A joke shared thousands of times on Twitter. “What can I buy with these 3 cents saved thanks to Leclerc’s anti-inflation shield? asks a clueless consumer.

Among the dozens of messages of this type observed on Facebook and Twitter, the discounts hardly exceed a few euro cents, even with substantial shopping carts of 100 or 200 euros. Numbers that are far from filling food inflation, which is approaching 7% in July, according to INSEE.

A very limited list of products

How to explain these discounts, which some consumers find disappointing? Contacted by the huffpost, E. Leclerc simply remembers his method of calculation. “The amounts credited to the card at each checkout correspond to the increases observed in the products on the Anti-Inflation Shield List purchased by customers. They will therefore vary depending on the number of affected products and the increases observed in those products., explains the company. According to the brand, the reference prices were “determined by the bailiff” at the beginning, then the compensation is calculated “in real time” to determine the size of the discounts.

With a limited list of 234 “protected” products out of the tens of thousands of product references in a supermarket, it would not be surprising if certain invoices were little or not affected by the discount offer. It is also important to note that this selection is based more on the popularity of the products (“the most consumed in France”, according to the company’s CEO), less on their importance for a healthy daily diet. For example, vegetables are scarce, but processed foods (cookies, chips), sweet drinks (sodas, beer) and other low-diet products are plentiful, mostly consumed as appetizers.

“Since May 4th, the retail prices of 120 shield products have increased. The average increase is +4.5%. To date, nearly 6 million E.Leclerc cardholders have benefited from the inflation shield.” compiles E. Leclerc’s assessment of the operation since its inception.

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