Sainsbury’s to rival Aldi prices in smallest stores

Sainsbury’s has said it will match the price of up to 200 Aldi products in its smaller stores as it battles rivals to get more customers in its convenience stores.

Shopping locally for groceries may be handy but people who rely on convenience stores can end up paying far more.

Campaigners have criticised retailers for not doing enough to close the price gap with large supermarkets, especially during the cost-of-living crisis.

Latest research for the BBC suggests that a frozen pizza is 26% more expensive in a convenience store compared with a main supermarket.

Sainsbury’s is the first big supermarket to extend its Aldi price match campaign across its convenience stores.

Sainsbury’s won’t disclose how much its new initiative will cost. Its Nectar loyalty price scheme will still only be in supermarkets and not convenience stores.

Aldi is regularly voted by consumer group Which? as the UK’s cheapest supermarket. Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda all have schemes to price match its prices on everyday essentials in their big stores.

In September, BBC Panorama found dozens of Tesco products price-matched to Aldi were not like-for-like. For example, Tesco’s chicken nuggets contained 39% chicken compared with 60% in the Aldi one.

Aldi’s growth has slowed this year as cost pressures eased for many shoppers.

“What we are now seeing is the growth of convenience,” said Ananda Roy from consumer analysis company, Circana.
Waitrose, Asda, Morrisons and M&S are all opening more of these stores.