Pav’s Patch: The high price of getting your oats

IF you were a British company, the last of your kind, facing the double-headed monster of overseas competition and a global economic downturn, what would you do to keep your customers?

Would you try to avoid price increases, maybe even attempt to reduce? Or would you virtually double the price of one of your products?

I only studied economics for a year, and that was in 1976-7, but even my unmathematical mind would consider banging up the price to be a perfect way of making a product less popular. When petrol hit £1.22 a litre 12 months ago we all started using as little of it as we could.

Let me tell you a story about oat bran. It’s pretty boring stuff, in fact it’s a bit like eating dust, but it does soak up cholesterol and I started mixing it with my breakfast cereal about six years ago when my doctor put me on statins.

I liked the product because it was British and produced by a family firm stretching back to the 17th century.

In all the time I bought it, it came in 500g polythene bags which latterly cost about 95p each. Then shock, horror, it disappeared. I combed the area to find my beloved oat bran and finally discovered it at Morrison’s, Dukinfield. Only now it’s no longer in a polythene bag. Now, it’s in a big thick cardboard tube, it’s called oat bran sprinkles, and it costs £1.73. The price has nearly doubled — a clever marketing ploy or what?

As you can imagine, I was rather annoyed and contacted the makers, Mornflake, a Congleton company, to ask what was going on.

I received a very nice reply, which stated: “The old cellophane pack suffered from the fact that it occasionally leaked. Once opened, it fell over and people complained about the contents spilling all over the place.

“Its presentation on the supermarket shelf was very often appalling and retailers frequently complained about it and requested something better.

“The style of packaging is well-used in other parts of the supermarket for condiments. It’s a wonderful way to dispense oat bran, which is a free- flowing material.”

So there we are, the new fancy packaging is worth an extra 78p. And we’re all happy to pay it because the old polythene bags looked shabby on the shelves.

As for all those other cereals which come in bags well, they should get some self-respect, smarten up and start charging more.

But considering how tough times are, I think Mornflake should sack their marketing department. With friends like them, who needs enemies.