Sheila Eggleston Revived for the third year in a row, the original Grocer 33 shopping list came into play this week and shows the average weekly price of our basket has barely shifted in a year. At £36.25, it's just 15p less than last year's total and very different to the previous year, when it dropped a staggering £2.54. The laurels again go to Asda on all counts for the cheapest basket. The multiple checked in the lowest till receipt this week at £34.57, the lowest figure for the same period spanning three years. And it tops our table by having the cheapest basket 15 times in the period June 1999 to May 2000, ahead of rival Tesco with 11. Its position hasn't been dented, despite delisting Birds Eye fish fingers from October to April. But for that, it would have had the cheapest basket 25 times. How the basket has changed shows in the lines that are cheaper today. Clear examples are Ariel Automatic washing powder and Comfort Conditioner. Ariel was £2.49 in 1997 and increased each year by 10p to reach £2.69 in 1999. This year the price fell to £2.39 in four stores. At the Co-op it was also on a buy-one-get-one-half-price promotion. Comfort is now sold at 16p less than three years ago. Another affected line is Kellogg's Corn Flakes, now creeping back to 1997 levels. Having been stable at £1.09 for 1998 and 1999, it now stands as low as 94p for 500g ­ just 5p away from 1997 levels. Nescafé coffee is cheaper than three years ago, despite the manufacturer upping the price by 10p in January 2000 because of a rise in world prices. Most of the multiples paid no attention and didn't change theirs. Over two years, Birds Eye frozen peas has dropped 20p. McVitie's Digestive biscuits have been cut from 45p to 35p in Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury. On fresh produce, onions have fallen between 6p and 17p and, at 45p, bananas are 4p less three years ago. Potatoes are up 4-11p; in April our Midlands shopper reported customers preferring to go elsewhere rather than pay 99p/454g for the only loose spuds available at Sainsbury ­ Jersey Royals. This week's special purchase ­ a single instant barbecue ­ carried a knock-down price of £1.99 from £3.79 in Asda and Tesco. When this was added to our list last May, the best price was £3.49; the year before it was £3.79. The same old non-movers, Flora and own label baked beans, have held their prices since the survey began and the price of Piat d'Or has been static for two years. Price cutting has reached such levels that distinguishing special offers from "new low prices" is becoming more difficult and has had an impact on out of stocks. These have been a continual thorn in the side down the years, culminating in a first for The Grocer 33 when not one store managed to offer a full basket (The Grocer, May 20). Even Safeway, proud of its track record in this area, and still the overall star performer, fell foul of a late bacon delivery. Frozen food continues to be the main offender, although special offers are taking their toll on staples such as milk, eggs and pasta. People can't resist a bargain, as can be seen by the recent rush on Jacob's Creek wine. Tesco's Festival of Wine caused hiccups because it bought in Jacob's Creek early for a "we sell it for less campaign" and a 20% off Australian wine special. This caught the rest of the multiples on the hop and led them to seek the same deals, leaving the supplier with a stock shortage. Caxton Wine confirmed that its stock demands were 135% ahead of target at the end of April, thus it was out of stock of the Shiraz Cabernet for 10 days. Supplies have now been restored. Quality scores given for service in store have seesawed over the past six months. Top of the list of shoppers' gripes has been congestion instore, where manoeuvring around shelf packers has become a dangerous pastime. This is closely followed by "service with a snarl". Demystifying country of origin on fresh produce is still a dilemma, even to our mystery shoppers. Shelf edges not always corresponding to the price charged at the checkout is another major irritant. And while "cashiers in love" may be the reason, non-charging and overcharging have been prolific, with 11 instances recorded between December and May 2000. Checkout service has not been as speedy between December and May compared with the previous six months. The top speed then was Safeway's 4.8 minutes. This time around Safeway was 6.2 minutes and Asda took the lead with 5.9 minutes. Chains that do not appear in all the tables because of fewer store visits ­ Morrisons, Waitrose and the Co-op ­ still make their presence felt. In the case of Waitrose, on 12 visits our team whizzed through the checkouts in an average of 4.8 minutes. {{GROCER 33 }}

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