Tesco cheese aisle

This week’s Grocer 33 has delivered a shock, as Asda suffered its first defeat to one of its big four rivals for six months.

Tesco emerged as the cheapest retailer this week, with its £60.23 total undercutting Asda by £2.43. This was the first victory by one of Asda’s traditional supermarket rivals since Morrisons won on 30 September. It is Tesco’s first triumph since the middle of August and only its fourth of the Grocer 33 year, which runs from June to June.

For the past six months, the only defeats Asda has suffered have come at the hands of guest retailers Aldi and Lidl.

But with a 4.9% month-on-month fall in the price of this basket, Tesco offered the lowest price for 14 items, with seven of these exclusively cheapest, including a half-price deal on the Nature Valley granola bars and the Vanish stain remover.

It also had more deals than its big four rivals, with 13 products on promotion, and 10 were price-only deals, including all seven lines for which it was exclusively cheapest. As well as missing out on the win, Asda also had to offer our shopper a voucher worth £6.10 to spend on her next shop under its Price Guarantee initiative.

Asda almost lost out to another big four rival, with Sainsbury’s just 32p more expensive than the Walmart-owned retailer at £62.98. Sainsbury’s was £2.75 more expensive than Tesco.

Although fourth-placed Morrisons matched Tesco with seven exclusively cheapest items, including the sweetcorn, organic kiwifruit and Snyder’s pretzels, its overall £63.70 was £3.47 more expensive.

Waitrose was cheaper than any of its rivals for the Ryvita Thins and Arla Best of Both and also like Tesco had 13 promotions. However, with six of these multibuys, it was £7.99 more expensive at £68.22.