Sainsbury's ditches Price Match for lower prices

Sainsbury’s is finally ditching its Brand Match scheme – running since 2011 – to plough the money into lower regular prices on “products that matter most” to its shoppers.
In an email to customers, the supermarket said: “We believe in clear, simple pricing and over the past 18 months we’ve been lowering regular prices on thousands of products, removing price promotions like fractions and percentages and reducing the number of multibuys. By ending Brand Match, we can invest more in what you tell us matters.”
Sainsbury’s says the move – which comes into force on April 27 – is in response to customer feedback, insisting the majority of its customers said they would prefer lower regular prices.
The Brand Match promised to beat Asda on the cost of branded items. If the total cost of comparable branded goods in a basket would have been cheaper at Asda, shoppers get a voucher for the difference to use on their next Sainsbury’s shop.
In order to qualify, shoppers have to buy 10 or more products, including at least one comparable branded item.
Morrisons dropped the price matching part of its Match & More loyalty scheme, which compared prices against not only Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco but Aldi and Lidl, in November 2015, just a year after it launched.
It now offers a simple scheme where shoppers can earn loyalty points in exchange for vouchers.
Tesco has also overhauled its Price Promise scheme, which compared the cost of comparable own-label and branded goods in a basket with rivals and gave a voucher for the difference of up to £10.
This was replaced by Brand Guarantee, which compares the cost of branded groceries against what it would have cost to purchase the same item at Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s. Instead of a voucher for the difference, shoppers now get the difference automatically deducted from their bill.
The move leaves Asda as the only major supermarket to retain its price match scheme. The Asda Price Guarantee promises if Asda is not 10% cheaper than Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose then it will give shoppers a voucher for the difference.

TOPICS:Sainsbury's