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Source: Jiffy

Rapid grocer Jiffy is to price-match more than 150 products with Tesco.com and discount a further 460 lines “in response to the cost of living crisis”.

The price-matching move and discounts means around a quarter of Jiffy’s available range “will be offering customers better value for money and savings” the ultra-fast online convenience retailer said.

Jiffy cheekily said its price-matching and discounting efforts were in “stark comparison” to that of the supermarkets, “such as Morrisons with price cuts only impacting around 6% of its total sales volume”. Jiffy’s dark stores typically stock around 2,000 SKUs.

“We are seeing the highest rise in inflation since 1992 and as a result the cost of living is having a devasting impact on households across the country,” said Jiffy buying director Justin James. “We are responding by offering savings across a quarter of our range and have chosen to price-match Tesco.com because we want to allay any misconceptions that fast delivery should come at a cost to consumers.”

Price-matched items will be branded and sit across all categories. Matching will be done weekly.

Jiffy’s move comes just a month after rapid rival Gopuff announced it had started price-matching or beating against two Tesco Express stores in Shoreditch and Camden in London – two areas served by Gopuff dark stores. Gopuff’s effort covers around 100 products, and the activity does not include “any discounts, multibuy offers, Clubcard Prices” it said at the time. Jiffy said it too would be excluding Clubcard offers and promotions.

Gopuff’s price-matching move is understood to have been the first by a UK rapid grocer, which typically cover their significant delivery costs with both delivery fees and considerable mark-up on products. Jiffy said today its own move was “the biggest commitment to date within the rapid grocery delivery category”.

Jiffy said it had seen a sharp increase in ‘planned buying’ as customers began to use the app to stock up for the week ahead. According to March research by Wavemaker UK, 22% of rapid grocery delivery users said they used the apps not to satiate immediate needs, but for ‘planned use’ – for example not visiting a shop earlier in the day, knowing they would get food delivered instead in the evening.

“It is therefore fast becoming a contender for the weekly shop, challenging not only local convenience shops and other rapid grocery delivery companies, but also the nation’s most popular supermarkets,” Jiffy said.

The brand is promoting its range of “low-cost everyday products” with an outdoor advertising campaign, at spots across London.