Asda has beaten record inflation to end the first quarter of the Grocer 33 pricing survey with its tenth win.
On Wednesday the ONS announced that food and non-alcoholic drinks inflation had risen to 5.1% in the 12 months to August 2025, the highest since January 2024.
In this week’s pricing survey Asda was the only supermarket to offer lower prices than last year. Its basket cost an inflation-busting 1.1% less than a year ago, compared with an average rise of 4.5% across all retailers on our 33 items. Big savings at Asda included Schär ciabatta rolls and spreadable Lurpak butter.
Twelve weeks into the competition, Asda has now triumphed on 10 occasions. It has been beaten just once by Tesco and again during a guest appearance from the discounters.
Its £71.85 basket was 3% cheaper than its nearest rivals and offered 18 cheapest items, 14 of which were exclusively so.
The middle of the pack was much closer, with just £2.68 separating second and fourth place.
In second place, Tesco’s £74.08 basket included six exclusively cheapest items including Clubcard promotions on The Coconut Collab yoghurt, Hula Hoops and Merchant Gourmet lentils.
In third, Sainsbury’s total included the largest promotional savings. Deals including Quorn Swedish style balls and own label pasta sauce saved shoppers £3.60 to deliver a £75.18 basket. Sainsbury’s provided the highest month-on-month savings (4.7%).
Loyalty promotions featured in Tesco and Sainsbury’s with nine Clubcard and eight Nectar promotions, with annual prices up by 3.5% and 3.3% respectively.
Fourth-placed Morrisons was exclusively cheapest on just the Tena Lady pads. At £76.76 this week’s basket cost 0.6% less than a month ago but 6.2% more year on year.
Waitrose was not only the most expensive supermarket – it also showed the highest inflation with a basket up 10.7% year on year. Waitrose’s basket was 21.5% more expensive than Asda’s and 13.7% more than fourth-placed Morrisons. Its only joint-cheapest product was the Viennetta.
The five retailers offered a total of 24 multibuy promotions this week, with eight of those from Morrisons. If prices are pro-rated to include them Asda remains the winner but by a slimmer 54p.
The biggest price rises in this week’s basket were on the Worcestershire sauce, biscuits and Quorn.
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