Asda is once again cheapest – but is also hit hardest by inflation

Winner: Asda

It’s done it again. For the 26th year in a row, Asda has taken the price award after offering the cheapest basket of groceries in 32 weeks of this year’s Grocer 33 survey. It was another great performance but not as strong as last year, when Asda was cheapest 36 times.

Inflation may have played a role in this, with Asda recording the largest average rise, of 11.5% year on year. On the other hand, it had the lowest average basket price of £67.31, with its nearest rival over £3 more expensive.

That rival was Sainsbury’s, which posed the greatest threat to Asda’s price dominance, with 11 cheapest baskets. Introducing Nectar Prices in April, these would have given it another win if the G33 took loyalty-based prices into account.

Morrisons claimed a single win, down from the four it achieved last year, despite a series of price lock campaigns. Morrisons has shown a steady decline in its performance in the price category in recent years, having had seven wins in the 2021 Gold Awards.

With Tesco’s Clubcard prices not factoring into G33 calculations, Tesco didn’t offer a single cheapest basket for the second year running. If it had, Tesco would have recorded 10 wins.

The elephant in the room, of course, is Aldi and Lidl, which appeared in seven ‘Super 33’ guest retailer shops. Lidl won five times and Aldi two.

Amazon made three guest appearances (alongside Ocado) in special Online 33 surveys and was cheapest in two.