What supermarkets are doing to help with cost of living – Tesco, Asda, and more

As the value of money decreases, the cost of goods and services tends to rise. Unfortunately, this means households have had to contend with significant rises in the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages, making the average food shop much more expensive. 

Everything from fresh produce to packaged goods has gone up in price, and it’s becoming more and more difficult to buy groceries on a budget. 

Fortunately, some supermarkets are taking steps to help their customers deal with the cost of living. 

Here is what you need to know.

What are supermarkets doing to help with the cost of living?

Several leading supermarkets have put policies, offers, and other changes in place to help their customers combat the cost of living.  

• Price lock – Tesco Locked prices on over 1,000 Everyday products, subject to periodic review.
• Increased staff discount threshold, free food, and financial advice – Tesco has raised the threshold on their maximum staff discount from £500 to £1,500. They also offer free food for employees in their canteens and financial well-being support.
• Pay increase for staff – Staff members were told they would receive £11.02 an hour outside of London, an increase from £10.30.
• ‘Kids eat free’ offer – Clubcard members can take advantage of the ‘kids eat free’ offer in-store with any purchase and no minimum spend.
• Round-up charity donation – The supermarket has partnered with The Trussell Trust and FareShare to raise money via ’round-up’ options at checkouts.
• Complimentary toiletries for staff – Tesco has been providing free toiletries (including deodorant and sanitary products) for employees in stores. 

ASDA

• Cut price fuel – Unleaded petrol was discounted by five pence per litre, and diesel was cut by 3 pence per litre. 
• ASDA rewards scheme – Asda put in place a new reward scheme that allows customers to build up a cash pot to spend in-store, usually via the ASDA rewards app.
• Discounted café meals – ASDA put in place both a popular ‘Kids Eat for £1’ scheme that ran through the start of this year and a £1 ‘winter warmer’ deal for OAPs.
• Essential living hub – An online site for offering parents and households money-saving advice on cooking, days out, and more.
• Extended ‘just essentials’ range – 267 new lines added to the ASDA essentials range.
• Rollback price reductions – Thousands of new Rollback price reductions.
• Charity gift card donations – ASDA donated £125k worth of gift cards to Buttle UK, which helps provide vulnerable children with essentials and school uniforms.
• Discount for blue light workers – Workers with a blue light card, like NHS or Military personnel, get 10% off shopping. 
• Community investment scheme – The ASDA Foundation invested around £750,000 in 60 community charities to combat the cost of living crisis’ impact on community interaction.
• Staff pay rise – The hourly pay rate for staff was increased to £10.10, and salaried staff also received a 2.5% pay increase. 
• Removed the qualifying period for staff discounts – New staff can now use their 10% discount on shopping from day one of employment. 
• Cut price winter flu jabs – Flu jabs are now priced at £4.98.

Lidl

• Staff pay rise – Lidl staff saw their hourly rate rise to £10.90 in October of last year.
• Neighbourly partnership – Lidl partnered with the charity Neighbourly to encourage customer donations to local food banks. 

M&S

• Cheaper grocery items – M&S lowered the price of many items regularly bought by customers, including bread, milk, and mince, and launched a ‘Bigger Pack Better Value’ range of essentials. 
• Kids eat free deal – During school holidays, kids ate for free in M&S cafés with another customer spending £5 or more.
• Neighbourly partnership – M&S partnered with the charity Neighbourly to raise £1 million to donate to 1000 community groups. 

Waitrose

• ‘Super saver recipes’ – Waitrose launched recipe advice for customers based on portions costing just £2 each.
• MyWaitrose Loyalty scheme – The Waitrose loyalty scheme provides customers with 20% off counters, discounts personalised to their shopping habits, and free coffee. 
• Essential Waitrose – Over 1000 products now make up their ‘essential’ range.

Are supermarkets doing enough to help with the cost of living crisis?

While many retailers have taken steps to help their customers during this time of high inflation, their response has not been without criticism.

Ele Clark, Which? Retail Editor said: ‘The price of food and drink has continued to soar as people suffer through the worst cost of living crisis in decades.

‘Supermarkets aren’t currently doing enough to help shoppers. Which? believes the big retailers have a responsibility to ensure everyone has easy access to basic, affordable food ranges at a store near them, and to provide transparent and comparable pricing so people can easily work out which products offer the best value.’

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