Asda follows Sainsbury’s and Ocado as it invests £23m in reducing prices

Asda has become the third British supermarket giant this week to announce price cuts to help consumers struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

Britain’s third biggest grocer by sales said it was investing £23million in lowering prices on 425 branded and own-label products, by an average of 11 per cent.

Among the items that customers will be able to buy more cheaply include chicken breasts, fish fingers, cheddar cheese, strawberry yoghurts and Hellman’s Real Squeezy Mayonnaise.

The company said the measure was prompted by its latest Income Tracker report, which showed average discretionary incomes remained below pre-pandemic levels despite falling inflation.

It comes a month after the group made price reductions on more than 200 popular goods at a cost of £13million, and two months on from the imposition of summer price freezes on more than 500 items.

Sainsbury’s and Ocado Retail also announced price cuts on Wednesday in response to widespread inflationary pressures, with the former adding 40 products to its Aldi Price Match campaign.

UK food price inflation stood at 14.9 per cent in July, lower than the 19.2 per cent peak recorded in March but still representing a significant burden on households’ weekly shopping bills.

Food costs have soared largely because of poor harvests in Europe and North Africa and energy prices skyrocketing amid the relaxation of Covid-related restrictions and the Ukraine war’s escalation.

For Britons, grocery bills have also been pushed up by new customs checks on food imports introduced after the UK left the European Union.

Pressures: UK food price inflation stood at 14.9 per cent in July, lower than the record 19.2 per cent posted in March but still representing a significant burden on household bills

Alongside growing food and drink costs, many people are also dealing with higher mortgage expenses as fixed-rate deals agreed during the Covid-19 pandemic expire.

Home borrowing costs have gone up heavily due to the Bank of England’s 14 straight base rate hikes, which, on the flip side, has caused the UK inflation rate to fall to 6.8 per cent in July, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Kris Comerford, chief commercial officer at Asda, said: ‘While the headline inflation rate may have eased slightly last month, our own data tells us that many customers are continuing to struggle with rising living costs.

‘We have targeted this latest price investment on the products that our customers buy week-in and week-out, to help their shopping budgets stretch further.’

Many analysts expect inflation to continue moderating this year as the effects of the BoE’s rate increases fully feed through to the broader economy. 

On Wednesday, data from S&P Global’s latest monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index showed that UK business activity shrank in August following declines in both the manufacturing and service sectors.