Tesco has torn a further strip off Wrigley - by becoming the first brand to put breath-freshening strips into multipacks.
The supermarket giant first caused a stir in the sector at the end of last year when The Grocer revealed its plans to take on Wrigley by launching its own range of strips and gums.
Now the retailer has taken that fight a step further by becoming the first producer to put the groundbreaking strips - first launched in the UK at the beginning of 2003 under Wrigley’s Extra Thin Ice banner - into packs of three. It is also extending its own label range beyond peppermint by adding a spearmint variant.
Starting this week, the move will also see Tesco undercutting the price of Wrigley’s offering even further by initially selling the three-pack offerings at a knock-down promotional price of £1.19 and then at £1.71.
It was already beating Wrigley on price by selling individual packs of 24 strips for 72p - 2p less than its rival.
One analyst said: “It may seem a small thing, but examples like this really demonstrate how no sector is off limits for Tesco.
“Clearly, the better Tesco can do with own label ranges like this, the less bargaining power the branded manufacturers will have at their disposal.”
Tesco has not disclosed sales of its own strips but the retailer had previously claimed that consumers preferred them to Wrigley’s offering and thought that they were just as good as another rival in the strips arena, Listerine Actives.