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Which? has crowned Asda as the cheapest supermarket of 2016 for a selection of popular branded products.
To compare supermarket prices across the year, the consumer watchdog started with a list of more than 100 popular products, which were likely to be sold in the six supermarkets covered by the comparison.
Using data from independent shopping website MySupermarket, it calculated the average price (including discounts, but not multibuys) for each item across the whole of 2016.
The average prices were added up to get the cost of the basket. If a product wasn’t sold in one of the six supermarkets during the year, it was removed from the basket altogether to ensure a fair comparison.
The final basket of 80 items – including popular items such as Dolmio pasta sauce, Nescafe Gold Blend coffee and Warburtons bread – cost, on average, £154.14 at Asda.
Morrisons was next cheapest (£160.19) ahead of Sainsbury’s (£162.11), Tesco (£164.37) and Waitrose (£172.27).
In addition to the yearly comparison, researchers also looked at the total cost of the basket each month and found that Asda was consistently cheaper, coming top in 11 out of 12 months. February was the exception, when Morrisons bumped it into second place.
Which? magazine editor Richard Headland: “With increasing concern over rising food prices, our research shows that some supermarkets are consistently cheaper than others for popular branded items. It could be worth switching supermarkets, or shopping around, if you want to trim your shopping bill.”
