Supermarket price wars: Tesco slashes price of milk for first time in three years to rival Lidl and Aldi
Tesco has slashed the price of milk for the first time in three years and locked the price of over 1,000 products, in the latest move by the UK’s biggest grocer to rival discounter supermarkets.
As shoppers are forced to ‘shop around’ for the best-value options, Tesco has reduced the price of a pint of milk from 95p to 90p and two pints from £1.30 to £1.25 – making the cost 5p cheaper than Aldi.
The ‘Big-Four’ grocer has also price-locked household staples such as Tetley tea bags at £1.50 and Aquafresh toothpaste at 80p in a bid to keep customers on the hunt for the best bargains coming back.
However, rival Lidl, which was last month crowned the UK’s fastest growing supermarket, has managed to keep the price of its toothpaste at 59p and tea bags at 95p.
Jason Tarry, Tesco UK chief executive, said that the continued price-lock on many everyday essentials, as well as the drop in milk prices, will help to provide “customers with peace of mind at a time when many families are still feeling the effects of an increase in the cost of living”.
As the price war among major supermarkets prevails, Sainsbury’s was also this week forced to make changes to its loyalty card scheme in an attempt to rival Tesco’s clubcard deals.
Now Sainsbury’s customers who use its Nectar card scheme can buy Nescafe coffee which retails at £8.10 and other items which have spiked in price due to the cost of living crisis at a discounted price.
It comes as last week data by NIQ said that some 54 per cent of Brits said price discounts via loyalty cards were most likely to encourage them to buy a product amid the cost of living crisis.
Speaking at the time, Mike Watkins, NIQ’s UK head of retailer and business insight, said: “During a period of high inflation, shoppers are looking for different ways to save money and loyalty card savings are a ‘win-win’ strategy as they reward both shoppers and retailers.”