Tesco, the country's biggest retailer, cut the price of 5,000 items by up to 50 per cent on Monday to pull in customers struggling to cope with record petrol prices and energy bills.
After announcing that they would reduce 3,000 items, Tesco widened the scope of cut-price goods to attract customers away from budget supermarkets and a similar (though smaller) promotion at Asda which finished on Sunday.
"We are constantly looking for bargains for our customers," a spokeswoman for Tesco said. The price drops are merely "more of the same".
Although the prices compare well with the lean costs and mark-downs of other supermarkets, this week's shopper in Tesco still has to do the mental arithmetic to be sure of saving within the store.
For instance, Tesco's own brand lean mince in a two for one offer began at a higher price per pound than the larger, one-off tray of the same meat. So, the two for one offer cost more, pound for pound, than the apparently normal-priced pack.
Asda, having offered reductions on only ten products and at a set price of 50p each, could be specific about the customers' saving. Fresh baked white-bloomer loaves (down from £1.09), 500g seedless green grapes (down from £1.68) and 454g packs of eight Asda own-brand sausages (usually priced at 97p). The ten items in the deal would have cost £5 instead of the normal price of £10.83.
As for the rest of the "Big Four" supermarkets, Sainsbury's started a "Feed Your Family for a Fiver" campaign in March, backed by the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, while Morrisons cut the price of 2,000 items this month.
Eighteen months ago quality and organic foods were high on the shopping agenda. Now price is paramount.
The Grocer said that discount chains Aldi and Lidl delivered strong year-on-year growth rates - 21 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. This growth resulted in a record market share for Aldi of 2.9 per cent.
Netto, a chain which keeps to a limited number of products which helps keep prices down, has noticed more higher-earning "ABC shoppers" in its stores in recent months. Managing director Richard Lancaster told the Observer, "We are appealing to a broader cross section of the British public… now it is all about price, and that means all the supermarkets are talking our language."
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