Asda claims title as cheapest online supermarket

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What is the cheapest online supermarket? As food prices continue to soar and many people make changes to the way they both shop for food and eat it, an online price tracker has shown Asda to be the least expensive option for shoppers across Britain. The website, Alertr, constantly monitors prices of the products you love. 

It has been monitoring the price increases and decreases across six major UK supermarkets online. The supermarkets tracked included Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Ocado and Waitrose. Asda is the reigning champion, with Tesco coming in second place. The average price for a grocery shop stands at £117.85 at Asda. 

Although this was up 51 pence compared to last month’s findings, it is still in the lead by a total of £7.33 compares to the same goods from Tesco, which comes in at a total of £125.18. The most expensive supermarket currently being tracked, Waitrose, came in at a whopping £21.79 more than Asda. 

If this is the sort of article which interests you, why not check out our recent analysis of supermarket own brands. We compared their value ranges and discussed the price, their ethics and the range available. You can check it out here. 

What was analysed? 

Alertr has been tracking the prices of 42 different everyday items from the shopping basket on the ONS Consumer Price Index (CPI) since 2019. This includes essential and everyday food items such as eggs, milk and bread. Non-perishables include pasta, rice and cereals. Own brand items, or their equivalents, were monitored within the research. 

Own brand items would give the most unbiased results possible when comparing the cost of different goods. However, there were a few branded items stocked by all six supermarkets which were analysed. These include products such as Coca-Cola drinks and Kellog’s Cornflakes.  

If an item happened to be out of stock or unavailable, the product was dismissed entirely from the final basket costs. Items were also replaced with another similar item, but only if this particular item was available across all six supermarkets to ensure fair results. 

The totals

The full breakdown of each supermarket’s current basket costs are as follows: 

1. ASDA – £117.85 (+51p compared to last month’s findings)
2. Tesco – £125.18 (+£1.26)
3. Morrisons – £125.52 (+£2.12)
4. Sainsbury’s – £127.60 (+£2.70)
5. Ocado – £130.62 (-£5.37)
6. Waitrose – £139.64 (+£2.51)

Discount stores Lidl and Aldi were not included due to the inability for customers to shop full ranges of items online.  

Breaking it down

Tesco and Morrisons battled throughout August to take second place. The margin was close, with just a 34 pence total difference between the two stores. Tesco was the second most affordable shop for three-quarters of August and eventually took second place behind Asda. Over the month, Morrisons rose more than Tesco, with the basket of items increasing by £2.12, compared to Tesco’s £1.26. 

Although Ocado and Waitrose battled it out at the bottom of the table, the month ended with Waitrose at the bottom of the leaderboard. There was a notable £9.02 difference in the average cost of Waitrose and Ocado, with Ocado’s average prices actually decreasing by £5.37 on the previous month. However, although Ocado has the only decrease in average price out of all the supermarkets, this didn’t make a huge difference overall. It still fell second from last on the list. 

 

Where do you like to do your grocery shopping? Do you use an online supermarket to get goods delivered to your home? Let us know!

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