Asda has ended its Aldi and Lidl price match scheme, just 12 months after it launched.
The supermarket’s boss Allan Leighton has ordered the move to help fund a major investment in EDLP price cuts as it fights to regain market share, The Grocer has learnt.
A page devoted to the short-lived scheme on Asda’s website now redirects to a message telling shoppers: “Our Aldi Lidl Price Match has now finished, but don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of special offers across our entire groceries range. Just visit our offers page to find out more.”
It comes as Asda prepares to launch a new Rollback campaign of price cuts this week, reviving an advertising slogan associated with the supermarket since the 1990s.
The launch is to be backed by a major advertising campaign, including the That’s Asda Price slogan and pocket tap, with preparations already underway in stores, as reported by The Grocer last week.
It is the latest move under recently appointed Asda executive chairman Leighton, who returned to the supermarket in November after a hiatus of more than two decades, having been CEO from 1996 to 2000.
“We’re focussed on our own great Asda Prices, not competitor comparisons,” said an Asda spokesperson. “We’ve started 2025 as we mean to go on by cutting prices on thousands of products and there’s much more to come with Rollback.”
An Aldi spokesperson said: “Our promise to our customers is that they will make significant savings every time they shop with us. Our prices simply can’t be matched and the only place to get Aldi prices is by shopping at Aldi.”
A Lidl spokeperson said: “Giving all households access to great food at the lowest prices is a commitment we have kept for over three decades. This not only applies to our full range of products, but to every single Lidl store across the country.”
Renewed focus on Asda Price
When Asda launched the price match scheme in January last year, it was billed as a key plank in the strategy of its owners the Issa brothers, but it is believed Leighton wants to seize back control over its messaging and not be seen to be “dancing to the tune of the discounters”.
Asda is desperate to halt a rapid fall in its market sales share over the course of 2024, which ended with it being the only major supermarket to see sales fall year on year in the crucial Christmas trading period. Its sales were down 5.8% year on year in the 12 weeks to 29 December according to Kantar, putting its market share at 12.5%, down from 13.5% a year earlier.
It started 2025 by launching a Big Jan Price Drop, bringing reductions of an average of 26% on products in-store and online, although the level of reductions was subsequently mocked by Tesco CEO Ken Murphy.
Asda was the first supermarket to price match both Aldi and Lidl, with pre-existing schemes from Tesco and Sainsbury’s targeting only the former. Morrisons then also launched an Aldi and Lidl price match scheme in February last year.
More than 400 products were included in Asda’s price match scheme by June.
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