7th Apr 2016 11:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - J Sainsbury PLC on Thursday said it is axing its Brand Match scheme in favour of lower regular prices as it battles against its big four supermarket peers to attract more customers.
Sainsbury's Brand Match is a scheme which compares prices on branded products with rival supermarket Asda Ltd. If, at the end of a customer's shop, it is found that they could have paid less for an identical basket of branded products at Asda, the customer would receive a coupon for the difference in price.
On Thursday, Sainsbury's said it is axing the scheme and will reinvest the money into lowering the regular prices of key products such as chicken, bread, cheese, fresh produce and household cleaning items.
The last Brand Match coupons will be issued on April 26.
This comes after Sainsbury's revealed in February that it would phase out the vast majority of multi-buy promotions by August, also in favour of lower regular prices.
"We know that customers like the changes we've already made to the way we price our products because it fits in with the way people shop now. Our customers are shopping more frequently across multiple channels and they want to be able to buy the products they love, in the quantities they need, safe in the knowledge that they are getting great value for money. Our simpler, clearer pricing lets them do just that," Marketing Director Sarah Warby said in a statement.
Tesco PLC has a similar scheme to Brand Match, called Brand Guarantee, which guarantees to take money of a customer's bill if it is found their shop could have been cheaper at either Sainsbury's, Asda or Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC.
Asda, meanwhile, has the Price Guarantee scheme, which also offers the difference in price if a customer's shop is not 10% cheaper than it could have been at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and upmarket grocer Waitrose.
Last year, Morrisons scrapped its Match & More loyalty rewards scheme, which compared its prices with Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, and discounters Aldi and Lidl. Under this scheme, shoppers would receive the price difference in the form of loyalty points, rather than money off.
Shares in Sainsbury's were trading up 2.3% at 286.00 pence on Thursday afternoon.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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