Sainsbury’s is following Tesco in promising to match prices at Aldi on hundreds of everyday grocery items as part of its latest bid to halt market share losses to the discounters.
The UK’s second-largest supermarket chain announced today that 250 branded and own label lines will be price matched to the equivalent product at Aldi. The pledge focuses on popular meat, fresh fruit & veg, and dairy lines.
Price reductions being made by Sainsbury’s to match the discounter include reducing the cost of a kilo of plain flour from 80p to 45p, a kilo of baby potatoes from 95p to 65p, 21-day matured rump steak from £2.50 to £2.32, and a 6pk of white pitta bread from 45p to 35p.
Sainsbury’s stated that the move would help hard-pressed shoppers whose budgets have been hit by events of the past year, with it making a “significant investment” in the pledge.
The price match is the first major initiative of Chief Executive Simon Roberts’ plan, announced in November, to put food back “at the heart of the business”.
He said: “We are making great progress delivering our Food First plan and I’m determined that in these tough times, we do even more to help our customers save money. Our new commitment to match Aldi prices on hundreds of our most popular products will mean our customers can be confident that they are getting the quality they expect from Sainsbury’s at great prices.”
The Aldi scheme will sit alongside Sainsbury’s existing Price Lock campaign which fixes the price on around 2,500 products every eight weeks.
Tesco launched its ‘Aldi Price Match’ pledge in March last year, with it now covering hundreds of products. The retailer recently hailed the success of the Aldi initiative for improving its value perception amongst shoppers and supporting its robust sales growth.
Despite new store openings, Aldi has lost market share in recent months up against tough competition from its key rival Lidl and the Big Four supermarkets. Recent industry data showed Aldi sales increased by 5.7% over the 12 weeks to 24 January, compared to a 12.1% jump at Lidl and rises of 12.2% and 12% at Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
NAM Implications:
- At last! i.e. just 30 years since Aldi arrived in the UK…
- Instead of limiting the initiative to 250 items…
- …why not replicate entire Aldi offering?
- Would cost a bit more…
- …but would thus make for a one-stop shop…
- …at Aldi’s expense.
- Ditto Tesco-Aldi.
- Ditto Lidl…
