The best value supermarket for own-brand products in the UK has been named. A study compared supermarket own-brand products from ASDA, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Ocado and Waitrose to find which had the largest number of own-brand essentials on offer at the best price for online shoppers.
The study compared both the price of own-brand products, and the variety available at supermarkets. Aldi and Lidl were not included in the analysis as they do not offer online shopping. Online price-tracking website Alertr has revealed that Asda is the UK’s best supermarket for own brand essentials, with the retailer offering 31 out of 42 everyday items, at just £34.17.
The retail experts tracked the prices of 42 everyday items from the shopping basket used in the Office for National Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) since 2019. As such, they used this as a guideline to monitor the prices for the same own brand or like-for-like products.
After analysing these products across all of the six supermarkets, ASDA was revealed as the best supermarket for the price of its own brand essentials – known as ‘Just Essentials’ – with the retailer offering 31 out of the 42 everyday products at a total basket cost of just £34.17. Shockingly, Waitrose had the largest range of shopping basket products, with their Essential Waitrose & Partners budget range, offering 32 out of the 42 everyday items, but for a total basket cost of £48.23 (£14.06 more than Asda).
The full breakdown of the other four supermarkets can be found below:
- Tesco (tertiary brands) – 25 everyday items, £22.28
- Ocado (Own Range) – 24 everyday items, £42.03
- Sainsburys (tertiary brands) 20 everyday items, £20.87
- Morrisons (Morrisons Savers) – 17 everyday items, £21.56
Looking at prices across the board, everyday items such as rice and chicken vary a lot between supermarkets. Rice in the Morrisons Savers range is just 28p, while it’s £1.60 in Ocado’s Own Range – a £1.32 price difference. Chicken Breast Fillets at Ocado are £2.90, but at Waitrose they’re £4.60 in the Essential Waitrose & Partner’s range.
What’s more, there are approximately 15 everyday essentials that are roughly the same price across each supermarket. Long Life milk, for example, is just 69p in Morrisons, Asda and Tesco. Additionally, eggs at the four supermarkets who offer a low-cost equivalent (Asda, Waitrose, Ocado and Sainsbury's) range in price from just £1.25 to £1.75.
Speaking about the findings, Andy Barr co-founder of www.alertr.co.uk, commented: "It’s been a seriously tough month for British consumers; after the announcement that grocery inflation hit 16.7% in January, with a potential £788 increase on the typical annual shopping bill. It’s no wonder that more people are turning to own-brand essentials or their equivalent to try and lower the cost of their food shop a bit more, and hopefully this research helps point them in the right direction with where to find the most commonly bought products at the lowest prices."
READ NEXT:
Women say budget £7.99 mascara makes even the shortest lashes 'look like salon extensions'
Boots shoppers hail 'incredible' £38 beauty box with more than £170-worth of premium products inside
Aldi shoppers rush to buy 'magic' £2.99 cream that makes stretch marks VANISH
Matalan shoppers praise 'flattering' £7 dress that suits everyone and makes you look slimmer
Aldi shoppers say £40 hair Special Buy is 'MUCH better' than £190 GHDs
