Amid its drive to win back shoppers, Asda has been recognised as the UK’s lowest-priced major supermarket by trade publication The Grocer at its annual ‘Grocer Gold’ Awards ceremony that took place in London’s Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday night.
Asda historically dominated the ‘Grocer 33’ pricing award, before a methodology change last year to include loyalty pricing gave the award to Tesco.
However, the group’s renewed Rollback campaign has helped it outperform its key competitors on both base and loyalty prices, consistently offering the lowest prices on a basket of 33 everyday items, as tracked by The Grocer’s weekly survey.
Over the past 12 months, Asda secured 22 pricing wins out of 49 shop comparisons, more than double that of its nearest rival, which achieved nine.
Chairman Allan Leighton wants the retailer to be at least 10% cheaper than its traditional supermarket rivals, shifting its offer to a new ‘Asda Price’. Over 10,000 products have already moved to the lower Asda Price, with the group this week launching a new ad campaign to reinforce its value credentials.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Asda is asking major manufacturers to make big price reductions as part of the strategy to win back customers. The Telegraph said the struggling supermarket is in talks with some of its key suppliers as they resist pressure for aggressive cuts. Asda wants manufacturers to “share the load” in its price war that is aimed at reviving its flagging sales.
Commenting on the win at the industry awards, Leighton said: “Asda has always stood for great value. Regaining this award proves we’re consistently cheaper than our competitors on both base and loyalty pricing. More importantly, it confirms we’re delivering on our promise to provide good, honest value for the millions of customers who shop with us every week.”
