Morrisons and Asda have cut prices as supermarkets face a fierce battle for customers with households hit by the soaring cost of living.
Both supermarkets have been losing customers to discounters such as Aldi and Lidl as price pressures grow.
Morrisons said it would offer an average 13% price cut on more than 500 goods including eggs, beef and rice. Meanwhile, Asda announced it had “dropped and locked in” prices on some products until the end of the year.
The cost of living is rising at its fastest rate in 30 years in part due to soaring food prices.
Morrisons, which is the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket after Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda, said the cuts would cover refrigerated, frozen and store cupboard food and affect around 6% of its total sales volume.
Items being discounted include cereal, cooking sauces, chicken and sausages as well as flour, bread and ham.
Meanwhile, Asda said more than 100 products covered by its “dropped and locked” promise ranged from some fresh fruit and vegetables to fresh meat and frozen food.
The supermarket said prices would drop by 12% on average. Last month, Asda launched its Just Essentials range promising an expanded line of low-cost products in all its stores from May.
Drop in in sales and market share
Both Asda and Morrisons are losing out as customers turn to discounters Aldi and Lidl, to cut their costs, according to research firm Kantar. UK grocery price inflation hit 5.2% in the 12 weeks to 20 March, it said, its highest level since April 2012.
In that time, Lidl and Aldi were the only big supermarkets to see their sales and market shares rise. By contrast, Morrisons and Asda saw the biggest drops in sales and market share.
Kantar’s head of retail Fraser McKevitt said: “We’re really starting to see the switch from the pandemic being the dominant factor driving our shopping behaviour towards the growing impact of inflation, as the cost of living becomes the bigger issue on consumers’ minds.”
In March, one food boss told the BBC food price inflation could rise as a high as 15% this year as a result of the war in Ukraine.
