Sainsbury's move to slash the price of Carling has brought howls of outrage from the wholesale sector. Sainsbury shocked the trade with national advertising for a 24 pack of Carling 440ml cans at £9.99 (down from £12.99). This is a pack exclusive to the multiple but Asda has already said it will match the price and offer consumers a 24 pack of 500ml cans of the brand if they bring the Sainsbury ad to its attention. This pack currently retails at £11.98. Asda beer buyer Mark Spowart added: "Even with Sainsbury selling at £9.99 we are still selling bucket loads of Carling. Hats off to them for creating the noise, but it is only one line out of 30 on promotion at Christmas." This week Sainsbury continued its aggressive pricing strategy with an advertised offer of 24-packs of Beck's 275ml at £11.99, down from the usual rsp of £19.99. A Sainsbury spokeswoman said the deal was national and would run as long as stocks lasted. She added it was part of the general Christmas offer to draw customers into the store and featured in the store's promotional leaflets. Landmark chairman Steve Parfett said: "The £9.99 price has shocked even the most cynical wholesalers. It is lunacy. It is not a question of whether the suppliers helped to fund it but by how much." He suggested the overriding concern at Bass was the impending change of ownership and the need for good sales figures. "Beer has become a loss leader and we have to convince our customers that we are selling it to them at no profit. "It is unforgiveable that we should be seeing retail prices cheaper than we can buy it in trunkers from our suppliers." Bass marketing director John Holberry defending his position said: "We have a price platform and we continue to offer it, but we have to let the retailers do what they want and we cannot take any action on a retailer's rsp. "It makes no sense for us to fund anyone down because we know the market for Carling will be strong at Christmas. We are struggling to keep up with demand." He said all the price action is being concentrated on three brands ­ Foster's, Stella Artois and Carling ­ as they account for 50% of the market at this time of year. {{NEWS }}

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