It’s been a tough week for Asda, with the CMA’s damning provisional findings on its proposed merger with Sainsbury’s, but it did post a 1% rise in like-for-like sales and returned to winning ways in the Grocer 33. This week its £49.05 total was £3.21 cheaper than Tesco, which took the runner-up spot.
Asda offered the lowest price for 22 of the 33 items on our shopping list, with 13 of these exclusively cheapest.
It was this consistently low pricing that won the day for Asda rather than any specific deal. In fact, only two of the products on our list were on promotion at Asda, the fewest of any retailer. This compared to Sainsbury’s with three, Morrisons’ five and Tesco and Waitrose, which both had eight.
Tesco had the lowest price for 16 lines, though just four were exclusively cheapest. These were the Ecover washing-up liquid, Jacobs mini crackers, Paw Patrol cupcake mix and the radishes.
Sainsda’s rationale for the deal is to offer lower prices, but the CMA has suggested it could have the opposite effect. Sainsbury’s came in third this week - its £54.35 total was £5.30 more expensive than Asda. Sainsbury’s was cheapest for eight lines, but none of them were exclusively so.
Perhaps the most interesting result this week was the competitiveness of Waitrose, which climbed from the bottom to take fourth place. At £54.64 Waitrose was £5.59 more expensive than Asda, but this was just 29p more than Sainsbury’s and 65p cheaper than Morrisons. Its standout deal was a half price offer on the Oral-B toothpaste - at £1.95 it was £2.05 cheaper than the £4 Morrisons was charging.
Morrisons was £6.24 more expensive than Asda. It offered the lowest price for eight lines but was only exclusively cheapest for the Cadbury dessert.
No comments yet