Sainsbury’s pricing has never been the sharpest but announcing cuts to almost 1,000 products can only help in challenging Asda’s dominance of the Grocer 33.
Asda’s extended run of victories over its big four rivals since the autumn has only been interrupted by guest appearances from the discounters, and its £57.67 total was just £3.47 cheaper than Sainsbury’s, which claimed second spot even though our shop took place on Saturday, four days before the latest price cuts went live.
Asda offered the lowest price for 24 of the 33 items, and was exclusively cheapest on 13, including the soft white cheese, chicken drumsticks and fusilli, as well as branded lines such as the Cathedral City grated cheddar, Warburtons batch loaf and Chicago Town pizza.
Despite the win, our mystery shopper still received an Asda Price Guarantee voucher worth £4.28.
Sainsbury’s was cheapest for seven lines, with two of these - the broccoli and Quorn chicken-style pieces - exclusively so. It will be interesting to see if this week’s £150m price investment affects Sainsbury’s prices and how its competitors react.
Morrisons’ £61.65 total was £3.98 more expensive than Asda this week, despite it being cheapest on 13 products.
Tesco again had to rely on its Brand Guarantee scheme to remain competitive this week. Its shelf-edge total of £64.61 was almost £7 more expensive than Asda. However, our shopper would have been entitled to an instant discount of £5.34 had she been able to buy the full shopping list. This would have brought Tesco’s total down to £59.27, still £1.60 more expensive than Asda.
Although it was cheaper than any of its competitors for the Barefoot pinot grigio and Dorset Cereals muesli, Waitrose was still £11.11 more expensive than Asda at £68.78.
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