Tesco and Sainsbury’s have been turning up the heat on Aldi by quietly adding over 100 more products each to their price match campaigns so far this year.
As of Monday (3 June), Tesco was claiming to match Aldi on 756 products, about 130 more than at the start of the year.
Sainsbury’s was claiming to match Aldi on 678 lines, about 110 more than at the start of the year.
It means Aldi now faces more price matching by the UK’s two biggest supermarkets than at any time since their campaigns launched more than three years ago.
A Sainsbury’s spokesman said the number of price matched products could fluctuate. “We want to make good food affordable for everyone, whether that’s through our low everyday prices, Aldi Price Match or Nectar Prices,” he said. “These are available on the items they buy most, week in, week out.”
A Tesco spokesman said: “We are committed to delivering great value for our customers, and with hundreds of products on Aldi Price Match, great low everyday prices and thousands of Clubcard Prices each week, we have a great deal for everyone at Tesco.”
Alongside the expansion of Tesco and Sainsbury’s campaigns, Aldi has also faced price matching on new fronts this year, with Asda and Morrisons launching their own versions, matching both Aldi and Lidl.
Asda’s arrived in January, initially covering 280 products, a number that had reached 405 by this week. Morrisons’ launched in February and included 238 products this week.
Aldi recently launched a fightback, with a TV ad campaign highlighing how it is cheaper overall than any of the traditional big four supermarkets.
The ad borrows the tune from MC Hammer’s 1990 hit U Can’t Touch This as a dad raps the new lyrics: “You can’t match this.” It aired for the first time on ITV on 24 May, with Aldi saying it would be followed by hundreds of price cuts promoted under a new ‘prices hammered’ strapline. On the same day, Aldi’s latest round of price cuts saw 45 fruit & veg lines dropped by an average 11%.
Aldi’s year-on-year sales growth has slowed drastically over the past nine months, from 17.1% in September 2023 to 2.2% in Kantar’s latest data [12 w/e 12 May 2024].
Lidl’s growth has held up much better, with Kantar pointing to its loyalty scheme and in-store bakeries as contributors. Lidl’s sales climbed 9.4% in the 12 weeks to 12 May, giving it a market share of 8.1%, up from 7.7% a year earlier.
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