New UK supermarket data has revealed for the first time the price gap between expensive branded groceries and Retail Brand (private brand) products.

According to an analysis of Kantar data, British shoppers could be spending a premium of £15.1billion a year for branded items in Big 4 supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Morrisons) instead of Aldi’s private brand products.⁴

That’s a whopping £45 a month, or £542 a year, that could be saved by switching to own-label brands at Aldi.

New data has also revealed a big gap in the price of Big 4 private items compared to discounter private brands. A recent analysis of 33 grocery items by The Grocer magazine showed that swapping Big 4 private brand products to Aldi private brand can save shoppers around £324 a year.

The findings come as households face the biggest decline in spending power for a generation.

Kantar recently reported that the impact of food price inflation means that the average household grocery bill will be £380 higher this year.²

Giles Hurley, CEO of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “People are facing difficult choices about how they spend their money and are changing the way they shop to stretch budgets as far as possible.
“Shoppers are switching from brands to own-label products because they know they are often the same or better in terms of quality and taste.
“It costs a lot of money to market a mainstream brand, but you don’t have to pay for this when you buy a better value own-label alternative.”

Aldi private brand products regularly beat their branded equivalents in comparison taste tests by consumer group Which?, including Aldi’s Corale Baked Beans which beat Heinz Baked Beans, Aldi’s Mamia Ultra-Dry Nappies which beat Pampers Active Fit and Aldi’s Harvest Morn Honey Nut Crunchy Cornflakes also scored ahead of branded alternative Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut.

Consumer group Which? has today (06/07/22) also confirmed Aldi as the UK’s cheapest supermarket in June on a basket of 52 grocery items. The Big 4 average price was £11.92 – or 15% – more expensive than Aldi.

¹ Analysis of Kantar take-home FMCG data

² Kantar take-home FMCG data 4 weeks to 12/06/22

³ Big 4 supermarkets are Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Morrisons

⁴ £0.64 cheaper per item multiplied by the 18.5 billion packs bought each year multiplied by the average £0.64 saving from swapping branded items in the Big Four supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons) for general supermarket own-label. Figure increases to £15.1 billion if shoppers swap branded items purchased in Big Four supermarkets for Aldi own-label products