Supermarkets have come under fire for their pricing tactics once again, in the latest round of Which?’s campaign against sharp practices.

We’ve been here before - and recently. In November, a Which? report claimed that a year after promising to base promo claims on “fair and meaningful” discounts, the big players were still guilty of bombarding consumers with “dodgy discounts” and “misleading multibuys”.

This week’s report - 10 pricing tactics to watch out for in supermarkets - has attracted some attention for its list of supposedly sneaky strategies and its tips on how to avoid falling into the retailers’ traps.

Looking over the report, though, it’s hard to muster much excitement. Take point two: “Supermarkets alternate offers on two or three similar items that you might buy interchangeably, swapping the offers between each – often within a single day. This means they can always sell one of them at a discount.” Well, great! This means I can always be sure that a bottle of Hardy’s red wine (one example cited) is always on offer.

The report also complains about ‘£1’ stickers on products, which it says implies the item is discounted when it is not. But as Sainsbury’s points out in its response to Which?: “The use of ‘Only £1’ doesn’t indicate a special offer, just great value.” Does the consumer really stand there thinking, ‘finally! This giant chunk of broccoli has been discounted to the affordable amount of £1’? Or do they just think: ‘Broccoli for a quid? Yeah, I’ll have that.’

Then there’s Which?’s beef with seasonal offers: “Cadbury’s Giant Creme Egg was £10 in Tesco and Sainsbury’s in February. It was then on offer at £8 and £6.66 from March onwards. Easter was 31 March.” I can’t imagine many consumers complaining that the offer only kicks in closer to Easter. Who says the early bird should always get the worm? “Approach seasonal offers with caution – shop around,” Which? advises; which, like much of the advice in the report, is tantamount to saying: just use some bleedin’ common sense.

As for the claim “Tesco’s website doesn’t like Monday mornings”, and prices products higher at the start of the week, Tesco says this was down to a glitch and even Which? itself admits: “This might not be a straightforward pricing tactic.”

The other points hit on the usual bugbears of shrinking pack sizes (an issue for suppliers as much as retailers), “confusing” multibuys, and bigger packs that don’t always work out cheaper than smaller packs.

But these tactics are long standing and most sensible consumers should know by now to look at things like price by weight and unit price to check they are getting the best deal. In fact, Which? has been at the forefront of fighting to make supermarket price labels clearer: its Price It Right campaign has been a notable success - ensuring that more and more supermarkets are displaying price by weight and unit price.

It’s a shame then that this report feels a bit half-baked by comparison. Which? is taking supermarkets to task for being, well, supermarkets, and using all the tools in their armoury to sell groceries, make money and - sometimes - deliver offers such as discounted Hardy’s wine or broccoli for £1.

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