The 7pm Markdown: What Four Weeks of Supermarket Reductions Taught Us About Real Savings

Yellow stickers have a reputation problem. To some shoppers they are the holy grail of the weekly shop; to others they are a mirage that disappears the moment you actually need something for dinner. So we decided to test the hype properly. Over four weeks, we logged 120 reduced-to-clear items across six UK supermarket chains and asked a simple question: when do the real bargains actually land?

What we tracked and where

From 12 October to 8 November 2026, we followed reductions in a large Tesco Extra, a Sainsbury's supermarket, an Asda superstore, a Morrisons, a Co-op Food and a Waitrose. We visited at different times of day, including early morning, mid-afternoon and the final hour before closing. For each item we recorded the store type, the time we spotted the sticker, the original price, the reduced price, the date mark, the category and whether we would buy it again at that price.

This was not a scientific audit of every UK store. Reduction policies vary by branch, by manager and by how much stock is left on the shelf. But 120 items is enough to spot a pattern, and the pattern was clear: the yellow sticker clock is real, but it does not run on a single timetable.

The reduction clock is real, but it is not one clock

The first stickers usually appeared late morning or early afternoon. These were the cautious reductions: 10% to 30% off, often on bakery items, chilled meals and fresh produce. They were fine if you happened to be passing, but they were rarely the kind of saving worth making a special trip for.

The deeper cuts tended to arrive in waves. Mid-afternoon brought a second round on items nearing their date mark, usually 30% to 50% off. The final hour before closing produced the headline discounts: 50%, 75% and occasionally more. Across our sample, 38 items reached at least 50% off, and 17 hit 75% or more. Most of those deepest stickers appeared after 7:30pm.

But here is the catch. The deepest discounts also had the thinnest selection. By the time a pack of chicken thighs hits 75% off, there is often one pack left, and it may not be the size or cut you actually wanted. The sweet spot in our logs was not the final minute before closing. It was the window between roughly 5pm and 7pm, when second-wave stickers were appearing but there was still enough choice to build a meal around.

Smaller convenience stores ran on a different rhythm. Their final reductions often landed earlier because they closed earlier, and their stock was more limited. Large superstores tended to hold out longer. If you are planning a yellow-sticker run, check the closing time first. A 10pm superstore and an 8pm local are not playing the same game.

The categories that earn their sticker

Bakery was the most reliable category in our sample. Bread, rolls, bagels and pastries were regularly reduced by 50% or more, and most froze well. A £2.40 sourdough at £1.20 is a genuine win if you slice and freeze it. A 75%-off pack of croissants is a good deal if you have hungry people in the house, not so good if it becomes breakfast for one for a week.

Fresh meat and fish were the next strongest. The discounts were often deep, and the freezer made them worth taking. We picked up mince, chicken and salmon at 50% to 75% off and froze them the same day. The rule was simple: only buy what you can freeze or cook within 24 hours. A reduced steak you leave in the fridge until Thursday is not a bargain; it is a science experiment.

Dairy was mixed. Yoghurt, milk and cheese often carried useful reductions, but the date marks were tight. Ready meals were decent value if we were eating them that night, less so if they sat in the fridge while we ordered a takeaway. Fruit and veg were worth a look, but only with a plan. A 60p bag of spinach is cheap; a 60p bag of spinach that wilts in the drawer is just a smaller waste of money.

The weakest category was prepared salads and sushi-style chilled food. The discounts looked dramatic, but the eating window was tiny and the quality had often already peaked. We bought a reduced noodle salad at 50% off and regretted it by 9pm. That is not a saving; that is a cautionary tale with a fork.

Where the sticker lies

The first sticker is not always the final sticker. We saw 23 items double-stickered during the four weeks. A premium pizza went from £5.50 to £4.12, then to £2.75. That looked like a steal until we checked the price per 100g against the own-brand version sitting two shelves away. The own-brand pizza was still cheaper. The yellow sticker was doing a lot of emotional work for a fairly ordinary discount.

We also saw reductions on items that were already poor value at full price. A branded ready meal reduced from £4.25 to £2.55 is not automatically a good buy if a supermarket own-brand equivalent is £2.20 every day. Short-dated stock dressed up as a bargain is still short-dated stock. The sticker tells you the price has fallen; it does not tell you the item was worth the original price in the first place.

The date mark is another trap. A 'use by' date is not a suggestion, especially on meat and fish. A 'best before' date is more forgiving. We avoided anything that required us to change our dinner plans at short notice. The best yellow-sticker buys were the ones that slotted into meals we were already going to cook.

The rules we now follow

After four weeks, we have a short list of rules that actually changed our behaviour.

1. Set a price-per-unit ceiling before you go in. For us, that meant comparing the reduced price per 100g or per item against the own-brand alternative, not against the original price on the sticker.

2. Check the date mark and the freezer situation at the same time. If it cannot be frozen or eaten within 24 hours, leave it.

3. Treat the first sticker as an opening offer. If you are passing later, a second reduction may appear. But do not circle the shop for an hour to save 40p on a £2 loaf.

4. Do not make a special trip unless you need a flexible dinner. The fuel, time and temptation to buy other things usually cancel out the saving.

5. Buy the meal, not the sticker. A reduced item is only a deal if it replaces something you were already going to buy. Otherwise it is just a cheaper way to waste food.

The bottom line

Yellow stickers are a useful discount, not a treasure hunt. The real bargains tend to land in the late-afternoon to early-evening window, when discounts are meaningful and there is still something worth taking home. Bakery, meat and fish are the categories where the sticker most often earns its keep. Prepared salads, tiny date-mark items and premium brands reduced from inflated prices are where the so-called savings start to fray.

Our advice is simple: shop your normal route, keep an eye on the reduction shelf, and judge the sticker by what you will actually eat. The clock matters, but your meal plan matters more.