Supermarket giant Tesco plans to match Aldi prices to tackle rival

Supermarket chain Tesco will try to win back customers from its cheaper German rival as it announces a plan to match Aldi on hundreds of prices.

The new price match policy means that many of Tesco’s own brand products will be available for the same price as at Aldi.

It will make sure that “customers are getting competitive prices on these products at Tesco and saving themselves a trip”, the supermarket said in a statement

“Prices of the products included will be checked to give customers peace of mind, offering Tesco products at Aldi prices for simple, great value,” Tesco added.

The campaign will include bananas, cucumbers and white bread. They will be marked with a red Aldi Price Match sticker, and the products will be available online as well as in store.

“Our customers tell us they want the most competitive prices on the things they buy regularly. This new campaign will help time-poor and budget savvy customers get Tesco products at Aldi prices on products that matter to them,” said chief customer officer Alessandra Bellini.

Tesco also revealed that it sends researchers to Aldi twice a week to check out the competition’s prices in England, Scotland and Wales.

It is the latest attempt from the major supermarkets to win back customers from their rapidly growing German rivals Lidl and Aldi that have enticed shoppers with low prices.

Data released by Kantar earlier this week showed that Lidl was the UK’s fastest growing supermarket in the 12 weeks to February 23, jumping by 11.4%.

After Ocado, an online store, Aldi was the second-fastest growing at 5.7%. For Tesco, still the UK’s biggest supermarket, sales fell by 0.8% in the same period.

In 2018 Tesco launched its own budget chain, Jack’s, which was meant to take on the discounters on their own turf. However a year after the launch, the supermarket shut down its biggest Jack’s store, which was in Lancashire, replacing it with a normal Tesco.