In a Grocer 33 year in which Tesco and Morrisons both declared a price war, and invested hundreds of millions of pounds in pegging down prices, Asda barely broke a sweat as it claimed its 17th win in a row.
The Grocer 33 year runs from June to June, and Asda’s dominance was such that the competition was all but over by the time the balloon went up in March.
Yet even when Morrisons came out swinging, Asda rarely looked troubled. And when Tesco joined in the fray, it kept its nose in front. Overall, Asda won 42 times out of a possible 50; an emphatic win rate of 84%.
In fact, the only time Asda was consistently beaten by its rivals was on the number of promotions. Not that it mattered, with Asda routinely dominating when it came to the number of cheapest items.
Whether the price war will escalate over the next few months remains to be seen, but with Asda vowing to invest £300m in lowering the prices of essential items in 2014, it clearly doesn’t plan to roll over any time soon.
As for the also-rans, Tesco finished second, picking up six wins throughout the year, three times as many wins as the year before. The biggest consolation came in December when Tesco stunned Asda by offering the cheapest Christmas G33 basket, edging it by just 41p.
Morrisons, despite its headlining price cuts, picked up just one win since declaring war. It will be hoping its I’M cheaper campaign will help it to pick up more than one win next year.
And Sainsbury’s and Waitrose failed to pick up a single win, relying on other factors like couponing and free coffee to compete.
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