Britain’s Sainsbury’s to match Aldi prices By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s second largest supermarket group, Sainsbury’s, said on Wednesday it will start price matching discounter Aldi on hundreds of products, firing the latest salvo in the UK’s highly competitive grocery market.

Sainsbury’s said it would price match the German-owned discounter on around 250 products, including meat, chicken, fresh fruit, vegetables and dairy.

Market leader Tesco (LON:TSCO) started price matching Aldi’s products last March.

Sainsbury’s move will cover both Sainsbury’s and branded products.

Examples include ‘by Sainsbury’s’ plain flour cut to 45 pence from 80p, and a 225 gram ‘by Sainsbury’s’ 21 day matured rump steak, cut to 2.32 pounds from 2.50 pounds.

Sainsbury’s said the price match was the first initiative of CEO Simon Roberts’ strategy update, announced in November.