Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

Tesco made an interesting move last month in its long-running battle with rival ASDA, when it promised customers to compare what they paid at Tesco against ASDA’s prices and to then refund the customer double the difference. That campaign, launched on February 28, was indeed quite bold.

But the more-than-5,000-store chain learned the classic lesson that no retail deed ever goes unpunished. This week, just one month after the promotion’s launch, the chain lowered its £100 refund limit to £20 after being hit by customers who were gaming the system. (No one anticipated that?) “A very small number of customers have used Price Check just to hunt down products which a competitor has on promotion and to make some money by using our guarantee. We commend their ingenuity, but this isn’t why we set up the system,” said Tesco spokesperson James Wiggam. Wiggam said the chain doesn’t expect this setback to undermine the program in any meaningful way because, he said, “Fewer than one in 5,000 customers have been awarded vouchers over £20.”