Tesco comes to single shoppers’ rescue this Valentine’s Day with a new way to find The One when Tinder hasn’t worked
Every multinational retailer’s favourite celebration of love is coming up. But if you’re still on the hunt for that special someone to share Valentine’s Day with, forget Tinder and other dating apps.
This year, there’s a new way to find the one: through your shopping basket.
Tesco has lent a hand to shoppers looking for love, introducing what the supermarket is calling “basket dating”.
Be warned, though: it’s more of a social experiment than a traditional Cupid’s bow. The supermarket invited 32 single shoppers to complete their typical shop for a Friday night in.
These were then analysed by a food psychologist and paired up, sending the 15 best-matched couples off on a date in the produce aisle. (What could be more romantic?)
Food psychologist Rachel Morris, the one who helped pair the couples, insisted you can tell a lot from a person by their shopping basket, “from our cooking and living habits to hints about our romantic personality”:
We’ve all heard about love in the aisles and this is the next step.
The supermarket claims a high success rate from these unlikely romances in the produce section: no fewer than five couples felt sparks fly, and went on to have a second date – with Tesco picking up the tab for the champagne and romantic meal, of course.
Tesco, like its similarly struggling Big Four rivals, has been trying to win back UK shoppers increasingly opting for online shopping or discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl instead.
Recently, it said goodbye to BOGOF – buy one get one free offers – and similar promotions, to offer customers clearer prices in the long term.