Foodie bargain hunters boost grocery clearance site
THE nation’s appetite for frugal living is helping to boost a Yorkshire-based online seller of clearance food and drink.
Approved Food saw a 500% like-for-like increase in sales between December 21 and 31 last year.
The business is attracting a surge of followers in the wake of the credit crunch and now has more than 25,000 customers taking advantage of its discount product range.
The online service offers deals that no supermarket can compete with by selling in excess of 1,000 short dated or out of date ‘best before’ products from many well-loved brands including Heinz, McVities, Nestle, Baxters, Nescafe and Cadbury.
Dan Cluderay, founder of Approved Food, said site users were guaranteed considerable savings on their grocery shopping.
“During November & December 2009 we sold more than 500,000 items saving our customers an average of 75% off the recommended retail price.
“Shoppers can spend £25 on an order with us and easily expect to see an equivalent shopping basket cost £100 in their local supermarket. These huge discounts make a noticeable difference to a family’s finances especially at one of the most expensive times of the year.”
Mr Cluderay admitted that food labelling did cause confusion to consumers mainly on the difference between use by and best before dates.
However, the site only sells products with a best before date.
“The ‘best before’ date simply refers to the product’s optimum quality. Products past this date are still perfectly fine to consume and it’s very unusual for anyone to be able to tell the difference,” he said.
“Selling shortdated, out of date and clearance goods gives us the opportunity to offer products at massively reduced prices. More and more people are cottoning on to the cost-saving we can offer and are filling their cupboards using a fraction of their usual housekeeping budget.”
Approved Food’s growth goes hand in hand with a rocketing trend for online grocery shopping in the UK.
According to new research published by grocery analyst IGD 13% of adults are now turning to the internet to fill their baskets – an increase of 63% since 2006.
The report predicts that by 2014, online grocery sales will reach a massive £7.2bn.
In addition to a vast range of food and drink products, the website features additional lines in pet food, cleaning products and toiletries.
