Sainsbury’s rollout of its Aldi Price Match to its convenience estate has prompted what appears to be a swift response from rival Tesco.
This week, Tesco fired its own convenience pricing barrage, by dropping the price of 200 items in its Express stores, including some of the lines in the Sainsbury’s push.
The move comes just weeks after Sainsbury’s become the first retailer to extend its discounter price matching to c-stores at the beginning of November.
Research compiled for The Grocer by competitor price monitoring agency ESA Retail did not yet find evidence of the 200 products touted for inclusion in the Sainsbury’s scheme.
In its tracking of products across several Sainsbury’s Local stores. ESA put the number of items at 68, with a strong focus on the bakery and dairy categories.
However, it noted significant price reductions for those items. The total cost of the 68 APM lines in November was £80.90, versus £100.10 in October – an average cut of 19.3%.
Sainsbury’s has also significantly increased the number of products on a price reduction in recent weeks. The total number of discounted items has jumped from 388 in October to 537 in November. However across the full Sainsbury’s Local range tracked by ESA however prices were actually up 0.6% for 2,008 products.
The APM products also seem to have undercut the prices at Tesco Express.
In October, both Sainsbury’s Local and Tesco Express were charging £1.30 for a six-pack of Warburtons sandwich rolls. With the rollout of APM, Sainsbury’s took the price down to £1.20, which Tesco has now matched.
“Sainsbury’s decision to extend Aldi Price Match into convenience stores is undoubtedly a bold move, positioning the retailer as a leader in affordability within the convenience market,” said ESA Retail growth director Kirk Brazier.
“While the range of products in the promotion is narrower than suggested during the launch, the depth of discounts and the broader increase in price reductions reflect a genuine effort to address concerns about cost.
”As Christmas approaches, it will be interesting to see whether Sainsbury’s expands the Aldi Price Match offering to include more lines and whether competitors in the convenience sector follow suit. For now, Sainsbury’s has successfully sparked a conversation about affordability and value in convenience shopping – an area traditionally marked by higher prices.”
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