Shoppers furious after Aldi and Lidl left out of Which? survey which voted Sainsbury's as cheapest supermarket

Sainsbury's has been crowned the cheapest supermarket of 2019, beating rivals Tesco, Morrison’s and Asda – but shoppers aren’t all convinced.

The accolade was announced by consumer group Which? after its experts compared thousands of branded grocery prices across six major shops: Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Morrisons, Tesco, Ocado and Waitrose.

The team compiled a list of 53 everyday items, from Andrex toilet tissue to Heinz baked beans cereal, and calculated the average trolley price per month.

Sainsbury’s came out at £107.01, compared to £107.65 for Asda and £112.40 for Tesco, with Waitrose the most expensive at £117.81.

While a number of customers congratulated the winning supermarket, praising its “good prices and quality products”, others voiced outrage at Which? for not including two key players in its survey.

“Don't be swayed folks Lidl and Aldi still beat Sainsbury's hands down on price and that's what us consumers want,” an indignant Twitter user wrote.

The German discounters are the fifth and seventh-biggest supermarkets in the UK, winning over swathes of the population with their bargain prices.

But Which? said it was unable to include Aldi or Lidl in its price comparison, as it only tracked stores selling their full range online.

It said: “We collect our data by monitoring online pricing, which means that only shops that sell all of the branded items online can be considered in the ranking.

“As a result, we’re unable to include Aldi or Lidl, as they don’t sell groceries online and don’t stock a full range of branded products.”

Twitter users were unimpressed by the criteria, with one commenting: "You have got to be kidding. You need to re-evaluate your parameters. Excluding Aldi and LidlGB by manipulating the criteria just makes the whole survey farcical.”

Another wrote: “Hahahahah Aldi and Lidl were excluded. Regular folks don’t have the dollar (or the lack of sense) to buy a trolley full of branded products.”

While another joked: “Lol. Naming Sainsbury’s the cheapest supermarket because you haven’t included Aldi and Lidl is like declaring Chris Pratt the sexiest Chris because you inexplicably decided to exclude Hemsworth and Evans.”

Other users questioned the reliability of the results, with one claiming: “Don't believe it. Asda consistently cheaper in my experience.”

But Sainsbury’s shrugged off the scepticism, with one of its representatives responding simply: “The stats don't lie!”

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