Tesco axes 150 items from Aldi price match campaign
Tesco has removed 150 products from its Aldi price match campaign, following changes to its verifications process.
Tesco has cut 150 products from its Aldi price match campaign as part of changes to its verification process.
The number of products covered by the grocer’s price match dropped from 790 in August 2024 to around 645 this week, according to data from IPLC partner Paul Stainton.
The UK’s biggest supermarket attributed the drop to a recent change to its methodology used to decide if an item can be included, The Grocer reported.
Goods are now only included if the claimed equivalent from the German discounter can be purchased in at least ten Aldi stores.
Tesco had previously deemed five stores as suitable for the price match.
The change is thought to have come in so the supermarket giant could focus its campaign more on its key lines most important to shoppers.
Despite this, Stainton said he thought the drop was also down to its reaction to a September BBC Panorama investigation.
The investigation examined 122 goods in Tesco’s campaign and reported 37 contained less of the main ingredient than the discounter’s, with the programme particularly highlighting the supermarket’s value tier own brands like Hearty Food Co.
The amount of Hearty Food Co products in the supermarket’s price match has plummeted from 36 to 13 since 1 August 2024, Stainton said, with other Tesco value tier own brand lines also dropping.
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Stainton said: “Tesco were shown to be price matching their value tier against Aldi’s standard tier own label.
“It’s not a surprise that Tesco subtly removed many of these items from the price match to avoid further negative reaction.”
By comparison, Tesco’s standard tier own-label goods only fell from 265 to 253.
The retailer denied that the decline was in reaction to the BBC Panorama investigation, insisting most of its lines removed were due to its change of methodology.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We work hard to offer our customers the best possible value, quality, and service with every shop.
“Our powerful combination of Aldi Price Match, Low Everyday Prices and Clubcard Prices ensures we deliver great value for our customers as the UK’s cheapest full line grocer.”
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