Sainsbury’s is launching its “biggest ever September price blitz”, spending £65m at a time when consumers are facing pressure from rising energy and food costs.
The group said £60m would be invested in its grocery business across its Aldi Price Match, Price Lock, and Special Offers schemes. This is part Sainsbury’s commitment made earlier this year to spend £500m by March 2023 to keep prices down.
The supermarket noted that cash-strapped shoppers were increasingly choosing its own-label products. As a result, the chain is upping the number of its own products that will be covered by its Price Lock promise by 20%.
Price Lock holds the prices of up to 2,000 everyday items for at least eight weeks. Sainsbury’s revealed that around 8% of all the products its sells are now included in its Price Lock campaign, with more products added in the latest round.
At the same time, its Aldi Price Match initiative will continue to focus on the highest volume, fresh items that shoppers buy most often, with 42% of the top 50 supermarket volume lines now included in the campaign.
Meanwhile, as people spend more time indoors throughout the autumn, Sainsbury’s is investing a further £5m to lower the prices of up to 900 Argos and Habitat furniture items.
Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s said: “We know how tough this ‘back to school’ season is going to be for our customers. With families across the country facing big increases in their energy bills, the situation is serious and our most important job at Sainsbury’s is to help our customers in every way we can. We have made huge strides to lower prices since we launched our new plan but we are committed to going further.
“Own brand is a great way for customers to reduce their shopping bill with no compromise on quality, and that’s why we’re increasing the number of own-brand products in our latest Price Lock. These are difficult times and all of us at Sainsbury’s are standing with our customers to ease the financial pressure they face.”
