In the week the closure of the Asda Price Guarantee was announced, the Walmart-owned retailer underlined its improved pricing credentials with a third Grocer 33 pricing win in a row.
Asda’s £46.84 total was £4.61 cheaper than Sainsbury’s, which claimed second spot with a £51.45 basket. Despite the comprehensive victory, however, Asda still had to offer our shopper a voucher worth 83p off her next shop - assuming she could be bothered to redeem it. Only 1% were doing so, it emerged this week.
Of the 33 items on our list, Asda offered the lowest price for 23 items, 14 of these exclusively so, as it undercut its rivals on everything from radishes to gnocchi - with the biggest price difference on the Budweiser Budvar, Maris Piper potatoes and peaches.
Sainsbury’s climbed from third to second this week, but there was little to choose between the rest of the big four.
Tesco was 6p more expensive than Sainsbury’s at £51.51, making it £4.67 more expensive than Asda. Again there was little sign of its new EDLP strategy, with Tesco offering the lowest price for 12 products but only two - the courgettes and minestrone - exclusively cheaper than any of its rivals.
Morrisons went from second to fourth this week with a total of £52.07, leaving it £5.23 more expensive than Asda. Its only exclusively cheapest item was the own-label coleslaw.
Waitrose, which this week rebranded as Waitrose & Partners, was a long way off the pace. Its £60.53 total was £13.69 more expensive than Asda. The upmarket retailer matched the lowest price for just six products this week.
In terms of promotions, Tesco had the most deals with nine compared with Morrisons’ eight, Asda’s seven, Waitrose’s four and three at Sainsbury’s.
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