No retailer came close to matching Asda's remarkable domination of our pricing survey this year.

This was Asda's eleventh consecutive year as the UK's cheapest retailer, with its consistently low prices winning it 35 of the past 50 weekly The Grocer 33 surveys. This was three more than its total last year.

Asda's monthly average basket cost £46.06 which, due to food inflation, was up 83p from its total in the last annual review.

However, the price difference between it and the second cheapest retailer has widened by 24p.

Asda's momentum particularly built up over winter when it spent a record 15 consecutive weeks as our cheapest retailer.

For the first time, it was Morrisons, not Tesco, that was closest to knocking Asda off top spot.

Its £47.05 average basket was 71p lower than Tesco's and it spent 11 weeks as cheapest, whereas Tesco notched up only three victories.

Morrison's most successful period was four weeks over July, when its summer price cuts gained it the cheapest spot four weeks in a row.

But with just three weeks as cheapest, Tesco came nowhere near last year's tally of 10 wins. One victory in July and two in March demonstrated the extent of Asda's and Morrisons' dominance.

Sainsbury's also felt the pressure. Last year it was within 5p of matching Morrisons' total but its current £48.54 average means it is the priciest of the big four once again. It held the cheapest retailer spot just once, in April, compared with last year when it won it three times.

And Waitrose? Despite efforts to price-match its branded goods with the big four, it remained the most expensive retailer for another year, with an average basket price of £54.71.

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