How do you sell big, branded goods for £1 a throw and still run a profitable business? Well, there are two main ways. The first is to keep costs low, negotiate amazing deals with suppliers and save money on overheads.
The second is to sell smaller quantities.
Pound shops aren't the only people looking to sell goods cheaply with big buying power and that means even though things cost a pound, they might well be more expensive than the big supermarkets – who are free to sell things at whatever price they like.
There are a lot of deals to be found, especially around chocolate, but in a lot of cases shopping at Poundland will leave you worse off.
We've taken a look to see what costs more at Poundland, once size is included, and found cheaper prices everywhere from to Aldi, and even .
Poundland's chief executive, Jim McCarthy defended his shops' prices. “We conduct price surveys every two weeks against the supermarkets and we believe we are 40% cheaper or more against 1,000 branded products," he told the Mirror.
“On a like for like comparison Poundland’s value, across our whole range, is compelling which is why over 5.5 million savvy customers shop at Poundland every week."
So what costs more? This is what we found:
Poundland milk
50p
Poundland price per litre
39.2p
Supermarket price per litre
22%
Cheaper at the supermarket
£1 of Heinz Cream of Chicken Soup
580g
Poundland
600g
Morrisons
Ambrosia Rice Pudding
29%
Cheaper at the supermarket
Prices via MySupermarket, checked on 27/4/2015