Clubcard promotions made all the difference this week, making Tesco the cheapest supermarket after two weeks of coming a close second to Asda.
Announcing its financial results last week, CEO Ken Murphy said Tesco had trebled the number of products on Everyday Low Prices to 3,000, in addition to more than 10,000 Clubcard Prices. That investment in lower prices was evident as Tesco (£64.01) came in 45p cheaper than Asda. Its eight price cuts shaved 9.5% from its total and provided the deepest discounts, including on Chicago Town pizza and Sharwood’s sauce – savings that also curbed inflation, with its basket costing 0.4% more than a year ago.
Asda (£64.46) was exclusively cheapest on 10 SKUs – twice as many as Tesco – but that wasn’t enough to compensate for those big Clubcard deals.
The gap to other rivals was greater. Sainsbury’s (£68.54) was 6.6% more expensive than Tesco, though it did sell the cheapest ingredients for a sausage casserole, with sausages, peppers, onions, mushrooms and baby potatoes coming to £5.52, 11p less than Tesco.
Morrisons’ basket (£68.82) was the only one that cost less than a year ago. It was, however, 7% more than Tesco and contained just two exclusively cheapest items: Smarties and Munch Bunch fromages frais, both on promotion.
Guest retailer Iceland was further behind at 11.8% more expensive than Tesco. It was exclusively cheapest on four SKUs – chicken thigh fillets, sausages, eggs and razors.
Waitrose (£83.68) was cheapest for Schweppes tonic water but was otherwise off the pace, costing 23.5% more than Tesco.
Iceland and Asda leaned most heavily on multibuys, with 14 and 10 deals respectively. When those are pro-rated, Asda would become the cheapest supermarket and Iceland third-cheapest.
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