asda tills promotions

Asda claimed a second Grocer 33 pricing win in a row this week, despite coming under pressure from Tesco for the first time in several months.

The Walmart-owned retailer’s £58.67 total was £2.16 cheaper than Tesco based on shelf-edge prices, but had our mystery shopper at Tesco’s Blackburn store been able to pick up all 33 items she would have received an instant Brand Guarantee discount to the tune of £1.42, closing the gap to Asda to just 74p.

This was significant as recently, even with sizeable discounts, Tesco has typically remained a couple of quid more expensive than Asda.

Asda offered the lowest price for 20 products this week, nine of these exclusively, including the broad beans, grapes and organic garlic. But the products that made the biggest difference were the Barefoot wine and Carte d’Or ice cream. It was typically £1 cheaper than its rivals on the wine and, while ice cream may not be the biggest seller right now, a Rollback from £3.50 to £2 meant it was pretty much £1.50 cheaper than the other retailers.

Despite the win, Asda still doled out a £1.61 voucher for our shopper’s next visit as part of its Price Guarantee scheme.

There was barely a hair between Sainsbury’s in third place at £62.03 and Morrisons at £62.04. They both offered the lowest price for nine items while Morrisons was exclusively cheapest for three items compared with two for Sainsbury’s.

Guest retailer Ocado pushed Waitrose into sixth spot this week. Its £67.08 total was £2.29 cheaper than Waitrose, though it was still £8.41 more expensive than Asda. Free delivery in the online shop meant Ocado stayed in close touch with the big four, and for the same reason so did Waitrose, despite a £10.70 premium to Asda on its £69.37 basket - provided you were shopping online.