Supermarket wars as Sainsbury’s makes price match promise across all stores

Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has said it will match prices to Aldi of up to 200 products in its convenience stores, amid pressure on grocers to bring more deals to their local shops.

The UK’s second-largest supermarket said it was the first in the country to make such a commitment.

Shoppers will now see prices that are the same, or cheaper, on items such as milk, bread, butter, pasta, chicken, steak and vegetables in its roughly 1,400 Sainsbury’s Local shops.

It already matches prices to Aldi on more than 500 own-label and branded products in larger supermarkets and online.

Aldi, a rival German discounter, was named the cheapest supermarket of 2023 by consumer group Which?

The scheme will replace the “pocket friendly prices” campaign which was introduced last year to showcase lower prices across its convenience stores.

Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said: “In our Sainsbury’s Locals, we’ve worked hard to offer market-leading prices on essential items and popular breakfast, lunch and dinner staples.

“We have also refreshed our local store layouts and rebalanced space, increasing the number of products in store by 7% and adding more food-on-the-move products – the primary mission of most convenience shoppers.”

A recent study by Which? found that consumers who buy their food at convenience stores could be paying up to a fifth more than at larger branches of the same supermarket.

Loyalty card members of Sainsbury’s could be paying an average of 14% more at Sainsbury’s Local than at larger stores, the survey conducted last month showed.

Which? said price disparities were likely to have a bigger impact on people without easy access to transport or online deliveries, making them more reliant on smaller nearby stores.

Mr Roberts said Sainsbury’s had invested nearly £1 billion “in value” since shifting its focus back to food four years ago.

It did not disclose how much it was costing to extend the Aldi price-match scheme.

It comes as Sainsbury’s is set to reveal stronger sales amid a continued boost from Nectar prices and discounter price-matching.

The UK’s second-largest supermarket chain will update shareholders on its trading performance for the past half-year on Thursday.

Analysts have predicted it will report a rise in sales for the six months to September, with industry data suggesting Sainsbury’s has seen its share of the UK grocery market climb higher, at the expense of rivals such as Asda and Aldi.