Sainsbury’s is to roll out its Brand Match price-comparison initiative throughout the UK this week.
The UK’s third-largest grocer will push the scheme into its supermarkets across the country on Wednesday (12 September).
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The programme, which has been trialled in Northern Ireland since August, compares the price of a basket of branded grocery products at Sainsbury’s stores with the price of the same products at Tesco and Asda. If the basket of products would have been cheaper at its rivals, Sainsbury’s gives consumers a coupon for the difference.
Sainsbury’s said the scheme had been “overwhelmingly well received by shoppers” at the 12 stores conducting the trial.
Commercial director Mike Coupe claimed the roll out of Brand Match across the UK was a “revolution in retail”.
“We have been listening to feedback from consumers and they tell us that stretched budgets mean they are shopping around to get the best deals on the brands they love. The introduction of the Sainsbury’s Brand Match ensures they will no longer need to do this,” Coupe said today (9 October).
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By GlobalDataThe roll out comes as a surprise after chief executive Justin King appeared last week to suggest that the scheme would not be taken into more stores in the immediate future.
However, Sainsbury’s move is a further sign of intensifying competitive activity in the UK food retail sector.
Last month, Tesco announced a revamp of its promotional strategy with the launch of the Big Price Drop, which it claimed would lead to GBP500m (US$778m) worth of price cuts. Sainsbury’s derided the strategy as “smoke and mirrors” but last week Tesco CEO Philip Clarke insisted the campaign represented “a real reduction” in prices for consumers.
Meanwhile, Waitrose last week launched what it claimed was its “biggest ever” value campaign in which it offered 1,000 branded products at the same price as Tesco.
Announcing the roll out of Brand Match, Coupe appeared to take aim at Asda’s own price-comparison service. Asda’s Price Guarantee refunds consumers the difference if their shopping is not 10% cheaper at the retailer. To compare prices, shoppers at Asda enter their receipt details online.
Coupe said: “Unlike some of our competitors we aren’t asking customers to do the hard work to check on our prices. We know shoppers don’t want the hassle of having to enter different pieces of information on their computer at home before having to then print out a coupon just to check they are getting the best deal. We are so confident that our prices are competitive with Asda and Tesco that we are happy to do the legwork for our customers.”
