Tesco has become the first UK supermarket to offer an immediate price match at tills, guaranteeing to customers they will never pay more for their branded shop compared with other leading supermarkets.
Tesco’s Brand Guarantee compares the overall cost of a customer’s branded grocery shop against what it would have cost at competitors Asda, Morrisons or Sainsbury’s. If the shop would have been cheaper elsewhere, customers will automatically have the difference deducted from their bill immediately, both in-store and online. Crucially, the scheme will also price match against promotions at Tesco’s main rivals.
The move comes as new research reveals the extent to which price-match vouchers – offered by some of the UK’s supermarkets – were failing to meet customers’ needs.
Forty-eight per cent of surveyed supermarket shoppers cited ‘forgetting’ as the main reason for not using the vouchers, while 16 per cent of shoppers said they lost their vouchers before they could claim their savings.
“Shoppers tell us price-matching vouchers are a pain and don’t really help them,” Tesco UK and Ireland CEO Matt Davies said. “We all know it can be stressful and awkward when you have to rummage through your wallet to find a price-match voucher.
“That’s why we’re ensuring that with Brand Guarantee, customers will never lose out on their branded shop – by getting money off their bill at the till.
“We’re working hard to make the shopping trip that little bit easier for customers, with simple, affordable prices you can trust. Brand Guarantee is one more way we’re taking the hassle out of a trip to the supermarket or an online shop.”
The initiative has already been trialled in Northern Ireland over the past few weeks, with overwhelmingly positive feedback claimed to have been received.