Amazon Fresh: Same prices as Tesco.
Translated from Retail In Detail, July 21, 2022 by
Amazon joins the countless initiatives that are already in the British mass market to ensure that you have the same prices as your competitors. It has just launched the “Tesco Clubcard Price Match” for a group of references that it sells in its Amazon Fresh online store, where it promises that a selection of branded products and its own MDD will have the same price as in Tesco.
The novelty is that it has chosen the products that Tesco already has within a promotion, that of the Clubcard Prices, and that they are cheaper products for customers who scan the loyalty card when going to pay. The mechanics is that they will check Tesco's prices every week, and they will put the references they have in the program at the same price. Prices will be held for at least 4 weeks. The products in this promotion are of all kinds: fresh, packaged, environment, personal care, cleaning, private label or manufacturer, etc.
The first guarantees focused on Tesco and the Big Four (the four leading chains), and although the first one I remember is from Asda, it was Sainsbury's Brand Match, launched at the beginning of the last decade, which got a greater impact and helped a lot to change the perception of Sainsbury's customers, who wanted to combat the image of an expensive supermarket that it had. From then on, more emerged, discounters began to be included, until today in which there are several active, mainly the two from Sainsbury's and Tesco that guarantee to have the same prices as Aldi for a number of essential references. Quick Commerce chains have also gotten into the game, with a couple matching prices on products at Tesco Express, the most popular convenience stores in the cities.
Amazon has about 3% of the UK's FMCG online share, according to Mintel, and is possibly below what they expected to have at this point (they launched the service in 2016). Without a doubt, putting the focus on prices and a promotion like this will be positive for your sales, but it remains to be seen if the increases are going to be very significant, and also in the usual price comparisons made by mass-market magazines. Amazon always has very competitive prices.
And this is not the only initiative to attract customers, since if you are subscribed to Amazon Prime they offer you a £30 discount for the first three purchases in Fresh, and a free year of the Deliveroo Plus delivery flat rate.
As expected, at the moment the competition for what seems to be the cheapest is going to fill the network with messages and initiatives, meanwhile, according to a recent YouGov study for Red Tractor, more and more consumers perceive products as being of poorer quality cheaper, although given the circumstances, they now have to make changes in their shopping basket to adapt to price increases and their reduced income.
