Nectar deals helped Sainsbury’s take a narrow victory this week.
At £77.18, our basket cost 39p or 0.5% less than at Asda. Sainsbury’s leaned heavily on discounts, with 11 price cuts that cut 15.4% from its total.
Well-timed seasonal discounts included the cheapest vine tomatoes, avocados and Filippo Berio balsamic vinegar. But the deciding element was a price cut on La Vieille Ferme rosé, which cost £7.50 for Nectar members, some £1.25 cheaper than anywhere else.
Overall, Asda (£77.57) was more consistent on low prices, with 10 exclusively cheapest SKUs including the scones and Rodda’s clotted cream. But aside from Waitrose, its discounts were the shallowest, with five price cuts shaving 5.6% from its total. That’s if you’ve got a loyalty card, of course. For shoppers without any memberships, Asda’s basket would be cheapest by 6.9%.
Tesco (£79.89), had just one exclusively cheapest SKU, the Kind protein bars on a Clubcard promotion, and price-matched a further 11 lowest prices. Tesco was 3.5% dearer than Sainsbury’s, but if its six multibuy promos are factored in, it offered the cheapest shop for those willing to bulk buy.
Morrisons (£83.29) was 7.9% pricier than Sainsbury’s. Its main problem came from the beauty aisle, where its £6.50 Pantene conditioner cost at least twice as much as at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda. The Bradford retailer recently raised the price and switched instead to a two for £8.50 multibuy deal. Kind protein bars and Ambrosia custard were its other outliers.
Inflation was the most evident at Waitrose (£94.93), where our basket cost 6.9% more than a year ago, making it 23% dearer than Sainsbury’s. Twinings teabags were its only exclusively cheapest SKU, while a deal meant it price-matched the Plenish Almond Drink.
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