Shoppers turning backs on supermarket that's charging 18% more than Tesco, Sainsbury's, Aldi and Lidl for key grocery

Shoppers are turning their backs on a supermarket that's charging almost 20% more than its rivals for a key grocery essential.

We reported last month how Asda was called out over the price of its chicken breasts, as it's charging customers £2.65 for a 300g pack, which is 40p (or 18%) more than Tesco, Sainsbury's, Aldi and Lidl and 24p more than Morrisons.

It's one of the reasons why the retailer is working out as the most expensive supermarket in our weekly price comparison for the 11th week running.

Read more: B&M is selling a mega tin of Cadbury Roses this Christmas almost half the price of Amazon

It comes as industry figures reveal Asda's sales have been declining. According to market research company Kantar, Asda now holds 12.5% of the UK grocery market, which is down from 14.8% when it was acquired by the TDR consortium for £6.8bn in 2021.

Kantar's latest survey also shows that sales are down 5.5% year on year.

The bill for the basket of essentials in our comparison - which also contains bread, milk, butter, tea bags, coffee, beans and mince - comes in at £12.89 at Asda, compared with the cheapest, Aldi, at £12.12.

Morrisons, at £12.31, is now second cheapest, with Lidl moving to third place after increasing the cost of its mince to £2.39 this week, bringing its bill to £12.33. Sainsbury's is fourth cheapest, at £12.40, followed by Tesco at £12.43.

Asda disagrees with our comparison and says that our small sample of products does not represent the fuller picture of prices and does not account for its deals. The supermarket says that, across the board, its Just Essentials range is the largest and cheapest available, alongside Aldi's.

An Asda spokesperson said: “A limited comparison of just eight products out of the 20,000 plus that our stores typically stock is not an accurate reflection of our price position. Asda is consistently recognised as the best-value traditional supermarket in independent price comparison surveys. These include the Grocer magazine’s weekly price comparison of 33 products and the Which? monthly comparison of 165 branded and own-label products across all major supermarkets.”

The retailer says it has 'invested £3.8 billion since 2021 to build a bigger and better business for the future', adding: "This investment includes launching a nationwide chain of Asda Express convenience stores and Asda Rewards, a loyalty app regularly used by over 6m shoppers. We have also invested more than £400m in retail pay to make Asda the highest-paying traditional supermarket.”

It says that its market share, measured by Kantar, has remained stable at 12.5% during the last four Kantar periods, with the spokesperson adding: “Our focus on key priorities – improving availability, enhancing the customer experience and investing in value – supported by an additional £30m investment in store hours, is already making a difference, with customer perceptions of availability improving noticeably both in stores and online.”

Despite working out as cheapest, Aldi also disputes the findings of our comparison, saying that it doesn’t take into account like-for-like products or ‘the higher quality’ of its products.

For example, the supermarket says that its beans are 20g heavier than Sainsbury's and that Aldi tea bags are 'better quality than the comparative products used'.

An Aldi spokesperson said: “Our promise to customers is that they will make significant savings every time they shop with Aldi, which is why we’ve been named Which? Cheapest Supermarket of the Year for three years running. Which? has also named Aldi the UK’s Cheapest Supermarket every month this year, even in its latest analysis including loyalty prices."

The full list is as follows:

Aldi

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee 200g - £1.79

Teabags 160 - £1.85

Salted butter 250g - £1.89

Beans 420g tin - 28p

Chicken 300g - £2.25

Mince 500g 25% fat - £2.39

Total £12.12

Morrisons

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee (2 x 100g) - £1.98

Teabags 160 (2 x 80-pack Savers) - £1.60

Savers Salted butter 250g - £1.89

Beans 410g tin - 27p

Chicken 300g - £2.65 for 330g, equates to £2.41 for 300g

Mince 500g 25% fat - £2.49

Total £12.31

Lidl

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee 200g - £1.99

Teabags 240 - £2.79 / equates to £1.86 for 160

Salted butter 250g - £1.89

Beans 420g tin - 28p

Chicken 300g - £2.25

Mince 500g 25% fat - £2.39 (up from £2.29)

Total £12.33 (up from £12.23)

Sainsbury's

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee 200g - £1.98

Teabags 160 - £1.85

Salted butter 250g - £1.89

Beans 400g tin - 27p

Chicken 300g - £2.40 for 320g / equates to £2.25 for 300g

Mince 500g 20% fat - £2.49

Total £12.40

Tesco

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee 200g (2 x 100g) - £2

Teabags 160 (2 x 80-pack) - £1.84

Salted butter 250g - £1.89

Beans 420g tin - 29p

Chicken 300g - £2.25

Mince 500g 20% fat - £2.49

Total £12.43

Asda

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee 200g (2 x 100g) - £2

Teabags 160 (4 x 40-pack) - £1.80

Salted butter 250g - £2

Beans 410g tin - 28p

Chicken 300g - £2.65

Mince 500g 20% fat - £2.49

Total £12.89