Asda has been cheaper than its big four rivals right the way through retail’s golden quarter, culminating in a victory in our special Christmas Grocer 33 this week.
Our festive shopping list was packed with essential festive food and drink - from turkey, mince pies and sprouts to Baileys and Port. And despite Asda wiping the floor with the competition in each of the previous 10 weeks, its Christmas victory was pretty hard-fought.
Asda’s £115.72 total was just £2.26 cheaper than Tesco, a very small margin given the expense of this particular shop - Asda was just 1.9% cheaper. As such, it also had to give our shopper a voucher worth £2.93 as part of its Price Guarantee scheme.
Of our 33 items, Asda was cheapest for 19, nine exclusively so. In terms of price alone, Asda was the place to go for the frozen turkey crown, Brussels sprouts, Christmas pudding and brandy butter.
Tesco offered the exclusively lowest price for four items - the gammon, walnuts, Paxo stuffing and Bisto gravy. There was no Brand Guarantee discount as Tesco said it was £1.63 cheaper than its big four competitors for the branded lines on the list, and its basket was 2.8% cheaper year on year - the biggest reduction of any retailer.
Morrisons took third spot. Its £124.34 total was £8.62 more expensive than Asda. Morrisons has generally been Asda’s closest rival over recent weeks but was undone by the turkey and Baileys, which when combined were £7 more expensive than at Asda. Year-on-year inflation was 5.4%, the biggest hike.
Sainsbury’s was £12.60 more expensive than Asda at £128.32, while Waitrose was much further off the pace at £151.78 - £36.06 pricier than Asda. It was the cheapest of the lot for the Christmas fruitcake, but was really undone by much higher prices for the gammon, turkey, Christmas pudding and Baileys.
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