Supermarket rivals Waitrose and Asda have become embroiled in a dispute over the name of their discount ranges.
Waitrose has sent a legal letter to Asda after the supermarket giant unveiled its new Just Essentials discount product range on Monday. But Waitrose - beloved of middle class Britons - claims the branding is too similar to its own Essential range which it launched in 2009.
Asda has countered by saying "essentials" is a "commonly used term" for discount product ranges.
Read more: ASDA announces it has axed its Smart Price range in product shake-up
The Just Essentials by Asda line is planned to replace the company's current Smart Price products from May this year. It said 300 Just Essentials items would be sold in more than 500 shops, with the retailer calling it the "largest budget-friendly essentials range in the market."
But Waitrose, which is owned by the John Lewis Partnership and stocks around 1,000 items in its Essential range, said it had written to Asda raising trademark concerns and was awaiting a response.
A spokesman told the BBC : "We were surprised to hear that Asda is launching an essentials range as the Essential Waitrose brand has been in use since 2009 and has built up a strong reputation for value, quality and higher welfare standards in that time. As we've also protected the name as a trademark, we have raised this with Asda and are awaiting a response."
The Asda range will include household essentials such as toilet roll along with frozen items and store cupboard staples.
Food campaigner Jack Monroe criticised Asda last month for taking value ranges off its shelves. She said prices had been raised at a time when many household budgets are being squeezed.
But Mohsin Issa, co-owner of Asda, said this week: “We understand that customers are increasingly worried about the cost of living and want help to keep their grocery bills in check, whilst still being able to buy healthy and nutritious food for their families. Our new Just Essentials range has been specifically designed with this in mind, combing our lowest prices with a much larger and more diverse range of great value products to meet all household needs.”
The announcement of its new product range came as Asda revealed revenues of £20.4bn in 2021, representing a 0.6% increase in like-for-like sales, excluding fuel. And just last week the Office for National Statistics said inflation jumped to a 30-year-high of 6.2% in February, with food inflation at 5.3%.
