Supermarket giant Asda has been named as the UK's cheapest online supermarket when it comes to a typical shopping basket.
Research by an online price-tracking website said the supermarket is the least expensive for customers in a comparison with six major online retailers.
The comparison by www.alertr.co.uk used the Government's 'shopping basket' used for the Consumer Price Index for basic and common products.
Asda worked out as £18.88 cheaper than Waitrose, the study found.
The results have been determined by carefully tracking how each online retailer prices the 42 items outlined in the Government’s Consumer Price Index ‘shopping basket’ on a week-by-week basis.
The latest research found that Asda is still the reigning champion – found to be the most affordable supermarket right now, with a total basket cost of £109.86.
Tesco came in second with a current basket cost of £115.63 (£5.77 more expensive than Asda).
Looking into prices across all of the six supermarkets, Asda was found to be the least expensive for the consumer weekly shop by a fair amount; found to be £18.88 cheaper than Waitrose - the most expensive supermarket right now.
Flour
Looking into price changes across the board, flour at both Sainsbury’s and Morrisons started the month at £1.50 and then, for the remaining weeks of January, dropped by 50p to £1, ahead of Pancake Day. However, at Waitrose flour was £1.55 for the first week of January and then increased in price to £1.80 at the end of the month.
Fruit and vegetables
In terms of fruit and vegetables, Asda has come out on top as the cheapest supermarket for items such as bananas, apples, peas and carrots – all below the cost of £1.50. For broccoli though, Morrisons and Ocado were the cheapest of all supermarkets, both selling at 46p. Asda and Tesco followed very closely behind at 49p and 50p respectively.
Essentials
For the essentials, such as bread and milk, Asda was again the cheapest supermarket, followed by Tesco and Morrisons. The bracket for milk is between 80p – 95p across all six stores, and for bread the cost is between 55p – 65p.
Alcohol
Morrisons was revealed as the cheapest supermarket for alcoholic items, followed closely by Asda, with an overall price difference of just £1.10. Both supermarkets are currently selling Gin and Vodka for £13, compared to the likes of Sainsbury’s and Ocado who are selling the same drinks for £15.50. For Wine specifically, Asda is the cheapest at just £5.50 per bottle, compared to nearly all other supermarkets at £6.50+.
Andy Barr, co-founder of www.alertr.co.uk, said: For the weekly shop right now, prices across the board really do vary, with a pretty stark difference between the top and bottom spots on the leader board of almost £19.
"Tesco appear to have retained second place with an almost £6 price difference between them and the leaders, Asda. Ocado and Waitrose have continued to compete with each other to not be named the most expensive of the largest supermarkets – with a marginal difference of just 75p between them this time around.
"As we approach celebrations like Shrove Tuesday and Easter, the battle for supermarkets to offer the best deals to their shoppers is only going to ramp up a notch and we can see this already with the price of flour.”
The online price-tracking website has been tracking the prices of 42 everyday items from the shopping basket on the Office for National Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) since 2019.
Included within the list are items such as eggs, milk and bread, as well as non-perishables such as pasta, rice and cereal. The prices across six of the largest supermarkets are analysed, with discount retailers Lidl and Aldi not included due to the inability for customers to shop full ranges online and not having the same like-for-like branded products that other supermarkets stock.
Own-brand items (or their equivalent) were monitored in the research to give the most unbiased comparison of goods and their prices, with the exception of branded items that all six supermarkets stocked (e.g., Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s Cornflakes, etc.).
Full breakdown of each supermarket’s current basket costs:
1. ASDA - £109.86 (£2.86 more than last month )
2. Tesco - £115.63 (£1.18 more than last month )
3. Morrisons - £119.63 (£1.29 more than last month )
4. Sainsbury’s - £117.62 (£1.55 more than last month)
5. Ocado – £127.89 (£1.69 more than last month)
6. Waitrose - £128.74 (£4.68 more than last month)
Alertr.co.uk says: "To ensure the results across the stores are fair, if an item is unavailable or out of stock in one of the six online stores then the product is dismissed entirely and not analysed within the final costs of all stores. Items can also be replaced with another like-for-like item, as long as it is in stock across all six retailers. However, for this current basket, no products that were being tracked had to be swapped or were out of stock.
