Asda, Britain's third largest supermarket group, said it would price match discounters Aldi and Lidl on hundreds of comparable grocery products, following bigger rivals Tesco and Sainsbury's who have schemes that match Aldi's prices.
Asda, owned by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity group TDR Capital, said it has reduced the prices of 287 products, including milk, bread, cheese, fresh meat and fresh fruit and vegetables, by an average of 17% to match whichever discounter has the lowest price.
'Uncompromising Value'
David Hills, Asda’s chief customer officer, said, “We have launched Aldi and Lidl Price Match to help them [customers] save both time and money.
“Our customers can trust that they will get uncompromising value every day at Asda and George – on everything from food and clothing to homeware and Cashpot rewards, as well as the lowest prices on supermarket fuel.”
The new addition to Asda's pricing strategy comes after it underperformed rivals in 2023 and was a relative laggard over the key Christmas period, according to industry data.
Data from market researcher Kantar showed Asda's sales rose 3.4% in the 12 weeks to 24 December year-on-year, while market leader Tesco and No. 2 Sainsbury's had growth of 7.5% and 9.3% respectively.
Price Match Scheme
Tesco and Sainsbury's have credited their Aldi price matching schemes for stemming the flow of shoppers to the discounters.
Asda's latest price cuts and reductions on 1,700 products announced by Ocado Retail, add to the UK's brighter outlook for food inflation.
Kantar said grocery inflation slowed to 6.7% in December from 9.1% in November, the fastest month-on-month drop that the researcher has recorded and its lowest level since April 2022.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM.
