Supermarkets Reveal Contrasting Figures

Fri, 12 Sep 2008
 
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Cash-strapped shoppers looking to slash food bills are turning their backs on high-priced supermarkets in favour of cheaper rivals, new figures have revealed.

Supermarket chain Morrisons announced yesterday that a surge in demand for value ranges had driven sales up by 7.6 per cent in the first six months of the year.

Strong price-cutting promotions, including offering a host of everyday items for 50p each, has helped increase nationwide customer numbers by an extra 500,000 a week.

In contrast, upmarket grocer Waitrose has seen sales at is stores drop by 1.1 per cent since the end of July.

The slight fall in sales comes despite the retailer investing £30 million on promotions so far this year, including cuts on the price of beef and lamb .

Managing director Mark Price said: "There is a misconception" about how competitive Waitrose really is on price."

Waitrose has a strong reputation for high-quality food but Mr Price claims that on five out of 25 product categories, Waitrose actually has undercuts discount retailer Aldi on its cheapest prices.

Waitrose saw profits fall 10 per cent to £94million in the first half of the year, in contrast with a 19 per cent rise to £295million reported at Morrisons .

Morrisons chief executive Marc Bolland boasted: "More shoppers are choosing us because of our price-crunching deals and our unrivalled fresh offers in store ."

Waitrose delivered some good news by saying it expects the price of food to fall over the coming months thanks to a good summer vegetable harvest and a bumper global wheat crop.

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