Upmarket northern supermarket chain Booths has taken a leaf out of Tesco’s book by launching a range of tertiary discount products.

The ‘discounts brands’ range includes more than 170 lines, from Enliven shampoo to Bokomo cereal, and stretches across all grocery categories including rice, biscuits, hairspray, soap, coffee and whisky. In health and beauty, prices for handwash, mouthwash, shower gel and shampoo start at 98p, while in household cleaning and soft drinks, prices start at 49p.

“Booths isn’t just about blue-rinse ladies driving Jaguars,” said chairman Edwin Booth. “We have a lot of customers who love food and drink but are on a tight budget. This will help us retain customers.”

The early indications were that the range was already driving footfall, he added.

Wholesaler DCS Europe is supplying 16 health and personal care products in the range, including its own Enliven brand.

CEO Denys Shortt said although DCS did not have a listing with Tesco, the move of the multiple into tertiary brands in September last year had sparked interest from a number of retailers and DCS had since secured listings in Morrisons and Netto.

“Enliven enables Booths to compete with major retailers’ own-label products – offering great products at £1,” he added.

It is not the first time Booths has added to its usual upmarket offer. In July last year it joined in the supermarkets’ 50p price war by launching a 50p Price Guarantee on five different vegetable and salads every fortnight in its 26 stores.

The retailer produced solid Christmas results. Like-for-like sales rose 3.9%, while 23 December was also the retailer’s busiest trading day in its 160-year history. “Despite challenging market conditions, we are pleased with the results,” said Booth.

“This year will be a difficult year for a lot of businesses and we are committed to being competitive on price while maintaining the quality of our offer.”

Topics