All the major supermarket price promotions at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda & more

Many of the main supermarkets have launched price cuts, freezes and matching schemes in order to attract more shoppers.

A host of the big supermarkets have unveiled various price promises and promotions in recent months in a bid to deliver better value for money for shoppers and ‒ just as importantly, for them ‒ try to stem the tide of shoppers switching to cheaper options like Aldi and Lidl.

Here we run through the main schemes on offer at the top supermarkets currently, which could save you cash.

Marks & Spencer

The latest food retailer to announce a price lock promotion is Marks & Spencer. 

It has locked the prices of more than 100 items until the end of January.

The products, which M&S says are “customer favourites”, include the likes of 400g of chunky vegetable soup for £1, 750ml apple and blackcurrant squash for £1 and Melton Mowbray pork pie for £1.50.

It comes alongside its ‘Remarksable’ range of more than 100 value everyday products.

Tesco

Tesco has a few different price deals in place at the moment.

For example, it has a price match scheme with Aldi.

It means that the price of hundreds of items are aligned with the deep discounter, meaning you would essentially pay the same at Tesco as if you switched to Aldi.

It has also announced a price freeze, where more than 1,000 products will have their cost locked in until the new year.

Products covered by the price freeze include Tilda steamed basmati rice for 95p, 2.25kg McCain oven chips for £4.30 and 1l Robinsons orange squash for £1.75.  

Another deal to bear in mind with Tesco is that if you are a member of its Clubcard loyalty scheme, you can qualify for lower prices on a range of items through its Clubcard Prices scheme. 

Tesco regular? Top tips to boost your Clubcard points 

Sainsbury’s

Like Tesco, Sainsbury’s also has a price match scheme where it aligns the prices of certain items with what you would pay in Aldi.

It reckons that almost half of its most-bought product lines are now included within the price match.

Alongside the price match, Sainsbury’s has a ‘price lock’ programme in place.

This is where it freezes the price of around 2,000 household and cupboard items for at least eight weeks.

It has recently hiked the number of products covered by the price lock so that now around 8% of all of the items sold by the supermarket are covered.

Sainsbury’s shoppers can also make the most of ‘My Nectar Prices’.

You need to log into the Nectar app, and you’ll then have a range of discounts available to choose from.

You’ll need to then purchase those items using the SmartShop app or handset in-store and the discount will be applied automatically. 

Tips to boost your Nectar points

Asda

Asda has ‘dropped and locked’ the prices of hundreds of items in its stores.

It means that the prices won’t increase until 2023 at the earliest. It includes products like 500g lean steak mince for £2.90, eight pork sausages for £1.50 and 325g of cherry tomatoes for 80p.

There’s a price match scheme in place at Asda also, though it’s not with another supermarket.

Instead, it is matching the prices on offer at Home Bargains, so won’t really cover food items.

If you’re a regular Asda shopper, it is worth looking into its new loyalty programme Asda Rewards.

Check out our article breaking down how it works, and how to get the maximum return from the scheme.

More tips and tricks to save when shopping at Asda

Morrisons

Morrisons recently announced it was cutting the prices of around 150 of its most popular products.

According to the supermarket, those cuts cover around 6% of the total volume sales at the supermarket, delivering customers an average saving of around 14%.

The items included range from chicken breast and steak mince to rice and potatoes.

Morrisons has its own loyalty scheme, MyMorrisons, which is also worth taking advantage of.

Members of the scheme are sent personalised discounts based on the items they purchase most frequently, as well as generic money-off vouchers.

Save more when you shop at Morrisons with these top tips

Central England Coop

The Co-operative is a bit of a bit of an umbrella collection of retailers rather than a single firm.

As a result, the pricing can vary significantly depending on where in the country you’re looking to pick up your shopping.

The Central England Coop has just announced a range of cuts on 50 items which it terms “everyday essentials”, such as cheese, tea bags, eggs and pasta sauce.

Importantly the discounts are only available to members of the Coop, and you can join by committing to having at least £1 within the Coop scheme.

Feeling the food price pressure

These price promotions come at an important time for UK households, with the cost of food one of the biggest drivers in the current rate of inflation.

Indeed, according to data from the British Retail Consortium food price inflation in October stands at a whopping 11.6%, a new record.

That’s up from the 10.6% recorded in September, and a good demonstration of the speed at which the prices we pay at the till are escalating.

That would be bad enough in isolation, but this is a time when we are seeing the cost of all sorts of household bills rising, stretching our finances even further. 

While some will be able to make sufficient savings by moving to more own-brand items when shopping, others may feel that they need to switch supermarket entirely.

Plenty have already, which has resulted in Aldi becoming the fourth biggest supermarket in the country based on market share.

It’s also worth pointing out that quite a few of the schemes mentioned above rely on you joining membership schemes.

While these are generally free, it can be a hassle to keep on top of too many of them at one time.

It will be up to you to work out if it’s worth signing up to a range of them, should you regularly shop around for the best deal on your groceries, or whether it’s best to simply stick to one or two.