Asda provided the cheapest Grocer 33 shopping basket for the first time in five weeks – but the bigger surprise was that Waitrose came in cheaper than either Morrisons or Tesco.
Asda’s £87.29 total was £1.49 cheaper than Sainsbury’s, which had been cheapest for three of the past four weeks. It offered the lowest price for 19 items and was exclusively cheapest for eight, including the avocados, lemon drizzle cake and Saclà pesto.
Sainsbury’s was cheapest for 12 lines, exclusively so for the Birds Eye quarter pounders (see right), Pip & Nut peanut butter, Quorn ham slices and raspberries. There was no impact from its Nectar Prices initiative.
At £93.22 Waitrose was just £5.93 more expensive than Asda, helped by 10 price promotions. This was a difference of just 6.4% when 20% is more common. It was cheapest on nine items and exclusively so for the Punk IPA, Pukka teabags and Fruit Shoot bottles.
Morrisons was exclusively cheapest for the McVitie’s ginger nuts, petit pains and salmon fillets but it was 13p more expensive than Waitrose.
Tesco was even more expensive based on shelf-edge prices at £93.85. However, its loyalty scheme members would have saved £2.56, narrowing the gap with Asda from £6.56 to £4.
Across the board a third of prices were on deal this week, which helped keep inflation down to 11% year on year and just 0.7% month on month.
The sharpest rise was on the quarter pounders, which were 51% more expensive than a year ago. Five products were up by more than 30% including the Cornetto ice creams, grated cheddar and Twix bars.
There were seven products that were cheaper than a year ago including the pizza, Corsodyl mouthwash and the watercress. A further four items rose in price by less than 10%.
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