Asda’s trading woes continue, with the latest market share figures showing sales down 5.5% [Kantar, 12 w/e 3 November] but it nudged ahead of nearest rival Sainsbury’s with its sixth win of the year in week 20 of The Grocer 33 price survey competition.
Asda’s £82.52 basket was £1.29 cheaper than nearest rival Tesco’s total on the 33 items. That’s despite Tesco offering £7.50 in savings through its Clubcard Prices membership initiative, which knocked 8.9% off the bill.
By comparison Asda offered a mere £3.64 in discounts from six price-only promotions. But it was cheapest on 20 products, and exclusively so on eight. What’s more, the price gap on its rivals was even greater if you factor in the six multi-buys. Its ‘all-inclusive’ total was £78.93. Nearest rival Tesco’s all-inclusive total was £3.61 higher at £82.54 (see online for details).
Tesco’s chunky Clubcard Prices discounts on 10 items couldn’t hide the fact that its basket was £2.31 (2.8%) more expensive year on year - in contrast with Asda (-0.1%) but also Morrisons (-3.9%) and Sainsbury’s (-0.3%), whose baskets all recorded annual deflation.
Thanks to the efforts of supermarkets and suppliers, plenty of items fell in price, most notably the Bonne Maman spread (-19%), Ye Olde Oak hot dogs (-18%), Nature Valley protein bars (-11%), free-from loaf (-11%), Vimto (-10%), Birds Eye Crispy Chicken Grills (-10%), Propercorn (-10%), Dylon Colour Catchers (-10%).
On the other, double-digit price increases were recorded for the Mini mince pies (29%), Lemsip Max (20%), Andrex wipes (18%), potatoes (15%) and lamb’s mince (10%).
The Morrisons is now deploying its More Card in earnest. Its £84.04 basket was £1.52 more expensive than Asda’s, with £6.75 in savings, including £4.50 off for members of its loyalty card scheme.
Unusually Sainsbury’s was off the pace with this week’s basket, charging a £4.20 premium with its £86.72 total, even when including the £7.06 in savings for Nectar loyalty card members, and it wasn’t exclusively cheapest on a single item.
Waitrose was at least exclusively cheapest on one item – thanks to a 25% off deal on the Tabasco sauce. But its £94.15 total was £11.63 more expensive than Asda’s – and notable for being the only basket higher in price than last week (0.2%), last month (3.2%) and last year (1.8%).
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