Supermarket price war: Morrisons cuts prices of 500 ‘everyday’ items

New Morrisons promotion comes just days after Tesco claimed it would price match Aldi on a host of everyday items.

Morrisons has become the latest supermarket to announce price cuts, as competition ramps up between the nation’s biggest grocers.

The supermarket has revealed that it is to cut the price of 500 items, ranging from fresh fruit and vegetables to frozen ‘family favourites’.

It said that on average the cost of products are being trimmed by 15%, with further price changes promised in the weeks to come.

Andy Atkinson, the commercial director at Morrisons, explained: “We’re cutting the price of hundreds of our customers’ favourite items and are holding them low.

These price cuts will help customers manage their budgets and make Morrisons even more competitive.”

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Morrisons deals: what prices are being cut?

Let’s take a look at some of the products that are having their price cut as part of this promotion, which is already up and running.

How do these new prices compare?

Of course, just because prices have been reduced, that doesn’t mean that Morrisons necessarily offers the best value for your weekly shop.

That’s why, if you’re keen to ensure you pay as little as possible for your food each week, it’s a good idea to shop around. 

Doing so used to be a lot easier thanks to the excellent MySupermarket, which allowed you to fill your shopping basket and then determine which supermarket was cheapest overall.

However, the site closed earlier this month, leaving shoppers with the arduous task of having to compare prices manually themselves, a task that ‒ let’s be honest ‒ most of us simply don’t have the time nor inclination for.

But as I was curious to see how Morrisons big new price push stacks up against its rivals, I've had a quick look at the current prices on a couple of items to get a rough idea.

As in the above table, Morrisons will charge you £1.25 for Bird's Eye fish fingers. While Asda normally charges £1.30 for the same pack, at the time of publishing they had been reduced to £1 as part of its Rollback promotion.

Over at Tesco the price is £1.50, and while Aldi doesn't stock the same brand, you can pick up 10 of its Northern Catch fish fingers for £1.49.

As for the Chicago Town two pepperoni pizzas, Morrison's reduced £1.25 price is well below the £2 being charged by both Tesco and Asda.

Again, Aldi doesn't have the same brand, but it is selling Carlos deep pan pizzas for 85p each, meaning two would set you back £1.70 (admittedly these are notably bigger than the Chicago Town variety).

We can't draw any meaningful conclusions after only comparing two items, but it certainly seems like Morrisons is competitive against the traditional supermarkets, although it will likely prove more expensive than the deep discounters and their off-brand bargains.

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Trying to win back customers

The price cuts come just days after Tesco announced it would be running a price match initiative, ensuring that the cost of certain items would always be at least the same as ‒ if not cheaper ‒ than if shoppers went to Aldi instead.

Now, big names like Tesco and Morrisons aren't slashing prices out of the goodness of their hearts: all the major supermarkets have taken a big hit from the growing popularity of the deep discounters like Aldi and Lidl in recent years.

For example, according to the latest data from analysts Kantar, over the 12 months up to the start of March sales at Tesco dipped by 0.8% on the same period last year, while Morrisons saw sales fall 2%.

In stark contrast, Lidl saw sales jump 11.4%, making it the nation’s fastest-growing grocer, while Aldi sales rose 5.7%.

More and more of us are seeing the opportunity to save a pretty packet by doing our shopping at these deep discounters, and it’s leaving the big names out of pocket.

Little wonder that they are trimming the prices of the items that most of us purchase regularly in a bid to win us back.

Big supermarkets vs discounters: the trade-off

So what impact will these price cuts have? Will they successfully lure shoppers back from the deep discounters?

That likely depends on individual shopping habits and preferences. 

If you're interested in price above all else then it's hard to look beyond the likes of Aldi and Lidl.

Not only are they consistently cheaper they are also excellent quality, picking up plenty of awards in recent years.

The downside though is that you need to be a bit flexible and adapt your food plans based on what is actually available ‒ whenever my family has tried using them we’ve been unable to actually pick up everything on our list, leaving us having to make a second trip to a separate supermarket.

So for those who don’t fancy running the risk of having to make multiple trips in order to pick up everything they need, the price cuts by the likes of Tesco and Morrisons are a real boon.

It may be that the convenience of shopping at a big supermarket doesn't come with quite the same premium it used to.

Wherever you shop, don't forget to check out our roundup of the best supermarket bargains, which is updated every Friday.

What do you think? Will these price cuts change your shopping habits? Do you shop at more than one supermarket to get the best price? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.