Asda has managed to retain its crown as the UK supermarket currently offering customers the cheapest prices for their online shop, new research has found.
New monthly research from price tracking website Alertr found that the Big Four grocer was the cheapest out of six supermarkets for online prices - despite its total increasing from last month. The supermarket giant was found to be offering cash-strapped shoppers prices that were over a whopping £20 cheaper when compared to the same basket of items at the most expensive supermarket.
It comes as households across the country are grappling with soaring prices at the supermarket due to the ongoing cost of living crisis, with grocery price inflation rising to a whopping 12.4 per cent recently.
Alertr has been tracking the prices across six major supermarket chains including Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's Waitrose and Ocado. Lidl and Aldi are not included in the price comparison as they do not currently offer a full shopping range online.
Based on a basket of everyday 42 items, such as eggs, milk, bread, pasta, rice and cereal, Asda was found to be the reigning champion with a total of just £117.85 - which was a 51p increase from last months findings.
The research also found that Tesco is offering shoppers the second cheapest shop with a total of £125.18, overtaking Morrisons who slid to third place with a total of £125.52. Sainsbury's slid to fourth place this month with a basket total that came to £127.60.
Ocado and Waitrose continue their long-reigning as the UK supermarket chains that are currently offering shoppers the most expensive online prices, with a total of £130.62 and £139.64 respectively.
Interestingly, while Ocado still came in as the fifth most expensive supermarket, they were the only supermarket to see a decrease in their prices with a total that was £5.37 cheaper than last months findings.
The research found that items such as alcohol, including vodka, gin and beer had fluctuated in price across all six major supermarkets. Gin and vodka at Morrisons and Asda started the month at £14 before increasing 20% to £16 by the end of the month. Likewise, a pack of four beers at Asda cost just £4 during the first week of July, and then went up to £4.60 for the August bank holiday weekend.
Grocery staples such as crisps and bread also increased towards the end of the month for all supermarkets, which could be down to parents shopping for school lunches for their kids. Walkers Classic Variety Multipack Crisps at both Morrisons and Sainsbury’s went up by 50p at the end of the month from £2.25 to £2.75. Additionally, the price of an 800g Soft White Medium Sliced loaf of bread and an 800g Medium Wholemeal loaf of bread at Asda and Morrisons increased by 10p (from 70p to 80p) in the last week of August.
Andy Barr, co-founder of www.alertr.co.uk, said: “For the weekly shop, as it currently stands, there’s still a stark difference between the top and bottom spots on the leader board of almost £22, which has increased incrementally from last month. Throughout the year so far, we’ve seen much less disparity across the rest of the board, especially between those supermarkets placing second, third and fourth on a regular basis – Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsburys.
"However, this hasn’t been the case for August, with an increased price difference of £1.78 between Tesco and Morrisons, and an even greater price difference of £4.20 between Morrisons and Sainsbury’s this time round, which shows that the top four supermarkets aren’t competing as closely as they were before.
“It’ll be interesting to see how the battle of the supermarkets will play out over the next few months – whether Asda will continue to reign supreme and if the other spots on the leader board start to compete more closely again. With the cost-of-living crisis squeezing household incomes more than ever, especially as we head into autumn and winter, who knows if this will impact consumer habits.
On top of this, the October price cap increase will inevitably cause many families to look harder at their expenses each month, so it’ll certainly be telling how supermarkets react to this and if product prices increase in line with suspected further inflation rate rises.”
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