Sainsbury’s has ramped up the number of products in its Aldi’s Price Match campaign by nearly a quarter since May.
The number of lines the supermarket is matching against the discounter has grown by 24%, from 310 in May to 384 by 20 July, and the total was climbing by the day this week.
However, the recent expansion has involved Sainsbury’s matching a number of different SKUs to a single one at Aldi, helping boost the total, according to Paul Stainton, partner at private label consultancy IPLC, who tracks Aldi price match campaigns.
Examples include 32 own label Sainsbury’s pasta products, across various shapes, descriptions and pack weights, matched pro rata against Aldi’s Cucina Penne 500g or Fusilli 1kg, mainly the former.
Six Sainsbury’s own label jam SKUs, in different flavours, have all been matched against Aldi’s Strawberry Jam, while four own label Sainsbury’s Basmati Rice SKUs in different pack sizes have been matched pro rata against Aldi’s 1kg offering.
Sainsbury’s has announced a number of the latest additions, including some fresh chicken SKUs, separately in recent weeks in moves to lower prices, such as a £15m investment in lowering the cost of store cupboard staples in June.
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Stainton said the campaign was also now “taking a step further” than previously by matching single SKUs against “a number of similar, but not the same, items at Aldi”.
It comes as a review published today into grocery pricing by the Competition & Markets Authority said one retailer had called Aldi price match schemes a way of generating PR for something supermarkets would do anyway, in matching lowest prices in the market for some key lines.
A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said: “Through initiatives such as our Aldi Price Match campaign and Nectar Prices, customers can find low prices on the products they buy most often both in stores and online – including fresh and frozen food, household and branded products.
“To offer our customers the best value and a greater choice within our Aldi Price Match campaign, we also match to similar products where we have a bigger range within the same specific eating occasion.”
Latest Kantar data this week showed Sainsbury’s edging ahead in competition for sales growth between the traditional big four supermarkets. Its sales were up 10.7% year on year in the 12 weeks to 9 June, the fastest growth of the four.
Tesco’s Aldi Price Match campaign remains the largest, with 696 items matched, about the same as in May, according to Stainton.
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