Forget bogof - retailers' fast-growing lure is bogtf

The number of buy-one-get-two-free supermarket offers have almost quadrupled in a year as retailers battle for customers.

The deals follow the "bogof" - buy one get one free - which drew criticism for adding to food wastage and the amount of packaging sent to landfill.

Some retailers answered the criticisms with buy-one-get-one-free-later alternatives, which allow customers to pick up the second product on a later shopping trip.

But use of the new get-two-free deals had increased from 36 to 132 across the "big four" supermarkets, or 266 per cent, in the year to date, according to the Grocer magazine.

The deals were mostly seen on snacks, cakes and pastries, dairy products, baby items, household goods, impulse lines, and frozen and tinned goods.

Kay Staniland, from promotion analysts Assosia, said: "These deals have increased phenomenally over the past two years. This offer could work extremely well in categories where products can be stored for future use."

The offer was used frequently by Morrisons, whose bogtf deals accounted for 83 per cent of all those available and a 300 per cent increase in the year to date, the Grocer said.

The number of "better than half price" deals had also increased, to the 2,374 displayed already from the 2,132 on offer this time last year.

Aidan Bocci, chief executive of industry consultants Commercial Advantage, said he expected the number of buy-one-get-two-free deals to increase well into next year.

He said: "There was a brief respite in the past six months where consumers felt a bit more stability. But with the public sector job cuts and next year's VAT rise, people are now realising this is going to be a five-year struggle."