Morrisons looks cheap in more senses than one with great value shopping basket

With its liberal use of flying yellow scissors, Morrisons’ price cuts are paying off. Since the launch of the June initiative, Morrisons has been cheapest twice in three weeks, its £63.92 basket achieved with the help of eight price cuts, and 11 promotions.

Currently the subject of a hostile takeover bid, Morrisons looks cheap in more senses than one: it was exclusively cheapest on eight items, with the biggest saving versus rivals on the Andrex loo roll at just £6.

Like all the grocers Morrisons is working hard to keep a lid on inflation, and with multibuys the ‘all-inclusive’ price of its basket falls to £61.68 (see online for more information). But there were more price hikes (10) than cuts (eight), with the Cadbury Dairy Milk up 50p, for example, and overall basket inflation rose 7.2% month on month and 1.1% year on year.

The nearest rival to Morrisons (just 28p more expensive) was Sainsbury’s, with a £64.20 basket. It was helped by a great deal on the E45 moisturiser, one of four exclusively cheapest items (though matched by Tesco for Clubcard holders only).

Third-placed Asda offered the cheapest price on 15 items (six exclusively), but its £64.96 basket was undone by its failure to match rivals on some of the bigger ticket items. Like Morrisons there were more price increases (13) than cuts (12).

Tesco’s £66.89 basket was £2.97 (4.6%) dearer than Morrisons, with the chicken one of four items exclusively cheapest. However, factor in its Clubcard deals and other multibuys, and it’s actually cheapest this week, with an ‘all-inclusive’ basket of £61.31, 37p cheaper than Morrisons.

Waitrose was exclusively cheapest on the Graze Bites, with a 99p saving one of eight promotions. The £76.97 basket was 20.4% more expensive than Morrisons but, factoring in multibuys, was a further £2.62 off.