The scheme – which matches the price of certain items with Aldi and Lidl or makes them cheaper than – has been scrapped to help fund a major investment in slashing costs for a wider range of items in Asda stores
Asda has axed its Aldi and Lidl price match scheme in its supermarket stores just one year after it was launched.
The scheme – which matches the price of certain items with Aldi and Lidl or makes them cheaper than – has been scrapped to help fund a major investment in slashing costs for a wider range of items in Asda stores, according to a report from
Grocer Magazine.
The price match scheme was first introduced into Asda stores last January, and at the time, the supermarket was the only chain to include both Aldi and Lidl. Morrisons later brought in the same scheme. Other chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s have only matched against Aldi. More than 400 products were included in Asda’s Aldi and Lidl price match scheme by June last year.
Other major supermarket chains, including Tesco and Sainsbury’s, also have the pricing initiative in their UK stores. The move was reportedly spearheaded by returning executive chair Allan Leighton. It is believed Leighton – who was CEO at Asda from 1996 to 2000 – wants to seize back control over Asda’s messaging and not be seen as “dancing to the tune of the discounters” in his quest to turn around the chain’s finances
A website page devoted to the price-match scheme on Asda’s website no redirects to a message which says: “Our Aldi Lidl Price Match has now finished, but don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of special offers across our entire groceries range. Just visit our offers page to find out more.”
The news comes as Asda is set to launch a new price-cut rollback campaign which will span both in-store and online product ranges this week. According to reports, the chain will revise its advertising slogan, “That’s Asda Price,” along with the pocket tap, which has been associated with the supermarket since the 1990s.
An Asda spokesperson told the Grocer: “We’re focused on our own great Asda Prices not competitor comparisons. We’ve started 2025 as we mean to go on by cutting prices on thousands of products and there’s much more to come with Rollback.”
It was revealed earlier this month that Asda had hit yet another roadblock on its road to recovery after suffering its worst Christmas since 2015. The supermarket – which is the UK’s third biggest chain – saw a sales slump of 5.8% during the festive season this year, according to data from the analyst firm Kantar. The figures revealed that Asda was the only major UK supermarket to perform worse compared to last year. Spending in Asda stores fell to £4.59billion in the 12 weeks to December 29 – down from £4.87billion last year.
Asda has been struggling since it was taken over by private equity firm TDR Capital and brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa in February 2021. When Leighton took over in November last year, he vowed to “restore Asda’s DNA” by cutting prices across its stores. However, the new chairman has previously warned that it could take as long as five years to restore fortunes.
The supermarket chain’s first priority is to find a new chief executive, which began this week. The chain has been without a CEO since Roger Burnley left abruptly in August 2021 following a fallout with owners TDR Capital. The Telegraph reported that the chairman was seeking a candidate who he could work alongside rather than oversee. This would mean that Leighton would maintain significant involvement in Asda’s turnaround strategy
