A supermarket giant has started a new campaign of price cuts, affecting almost 1,000 items. The Grocer’s price comparison survey found Asda to be 5.5% cheaper than rivals.

The Grocer 33 compares supermarket (Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose – sometimes adding Aldi, Lidl, Iceland, Ocado, M&S, and Amazon) prices every week using a basket of 33 identical items that are changing regularly. Last week, Asda’s basket was just £74.98, 2.9% cheaper month-on-month. Thanks to price cuts, it was also the cheapest supermarket for 14 of the 33 items, including Tilda rice, Casillero del Diablo wine, Lemsip Max, and Arla Lactofree milk. The only other supermarket to have a price below £80 was Sainsbury’s, with the £6.21 Nectar card savings leaving the total at £79.34. In third place was Tesco, 8% behind Asda, with the basket costing £81.47 due to Clubcard deals ending on 12 of the items.

Next was Morrisons, 12%  more expensive than Asda. The basket cost £85.19, with savings of just £1.50. This was the largest price rise month-on-month, at 4.4%, and the supermarket had none of the cheapest items.

In last place was Waitrose, with a basket costing £90.33 – 17% behind Asda. It offered the lowest prices on ginger, Clover, tomato juice, and Alpen muesli.

This comes after Asda announced plans to open 20 more Express stores across the UK to rival Tesco and Sainsbury’s, marking the continued expansion into convenience formats for the chain.

The supermarket confirmed earlier this year that it would be resuming its plans to open more convenience stores this year. This move will allow the supermarket to grow its footprint in locations where it has typically had a limited presence. 

These areas include high-footfall urban areas, residential locations, and transport hubs. Asda’s Express stores will typically stock a total of 3,000 products, with major brands on own-label items included, while customers can also complete a quick ‘top up shop’ or a lunch-on-the-go. 

Customers will also find a range of services, including a Costa Coffee machine, which is perfect for commuters, alongside an ATM and an Amazon Collections & Returns.