Asda and Tesco enter price war to reclaim ground from hard discount chains

by Ed Kemp, Marketing 27-Jun-08, 10:20

LONDON - Britain's two biggest supermarkets have slashed prices of everyday items to relieve pressure on families concerned about rising costs of living in the UK.

From Monday, Tesco will reduce the price of 3000 items by up to 50%, while Asda is slashing the prices of 10 top-selling core groceries, including bread, butter and eggs, to 50p over the weekend.

The latter price cuts will be in force at Asda's 329 stores from today until Sunday, lowering the cost of a basket of core groceries there from £10.83 to £5. The figure is 30% lower than the cost of the same basket a year ago. Asda has also made assurances that it will absorb the cost of the short-time promotion and not pass it on to suppliers.

The supermarkets hope the price cuts will help win back customers, some of whom have turned to budget retailers such as Aldi and Lidl in recent months.