Sainsbury’s is to take its battle with Tesco over the retailers’ price comparison schemes to a judicial review.
The UK retailers have tussled over their pricing programmes, which, in the country’s intensely competitive grocery sector, have sought to convince consumers they offer the best value.
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Sainsbury’s has run its scheme, Brand Match, for over 18 months. The initiative compares the prices of branded products on sale at Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda.
Sainsbury’s has sought the review after the independent reviewer of the Advertising Standards Authority endorsed the UK ad watchdog’s rejection of the retailer’s complaints over Tesco’s scheme.
In July, the ASA dismissed Sainsbury’s concerns Tesco was unfairly comparing own label and fresh food through its Price Promise programme, which measures prices between the UK’s big four grocers.
Sainsbury’s had argued it was unfair for Tesco to compare prices on private-label lines when there were differences between the products. Sainsbury’s cited its policy of stocking Fairtrade bananas and Tesco’s non-Fairtrade version of the fruit. The retailer also pointed to its own-label ham sourced in the UK, compared to Tesco’s product, which comes from the EU.
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By GlobalDataThe UK’s third-largest grocer believes consumers consider factors other than price when they shop, including ethics and provenance and therefore argues a straight comparison on price is unfair.
In the judicial review, Sainsbury’s is looking for the ASA Council to reconsider its decision. The watchdog’s test, Sainsbury’s claimed, “does not take into consideration customers’ desire to make fair comparisons based on all relevant product properties”.
Sainsbury’s will also question Tesco’s policy of “including only the product characteristics it sees fit to include” in its Price Promise scheme. The retailer said they were “factors that vary from line to line depending on what seems to suit Tesco best”.
Sainsbury’s commercial director Mike Coupe said: “Tesco says that whether, for example, a product is Fairtrade or MSC certified is just a ‘minor part’ of a customer’s considerations – especially for value products. We disagree.
“More than ever, customers want to let their values guide them and in price-matching its products with ours, Tesco is – when it sees fit – choosing to ignore factors such as ethical or provenance certification or even country of origin. We think that’s wrong and we’re pretty sure our customers do too.”
In its ruling, the ASA said Tesco had sought to identify if “non-price elements” would affect a consumer’s purchase and excluded products from the comparison if the factor was “significant and likely to affect a customer’s decision”.
The regulator said Sainsbury’s was concerned own label and fresh food could not be compared because of a difference in quality. However, the ASA said the small print of Tesco’s ads said some products would be excluded and the retailer had not compared some lines for that reason.
The watchdog said Tesco had met stipulations in the UK’s advertising code that advertisers should only compare goods that met the “same need”.
Responding to Sainsbury’s move for judicial review, David Wood, Tesco’s UK marketing director, said: “Sainsbury’s argument against Price Promise has been heard and rejected twice already. Tesco Price Promise offers customers reassurance on the price of their whole shop, in store and online, not just the big brand products. When family budgets are under pressure, that is the kind of help customers want and the real question for Sainsbury’s is why they aren’t trying to do the same for their customers.”
Tesco also referred to comments Wood made on the issue of provenance when the ASA rejected Sainsbury’s complaint.
“A massive amount of work goes into making the comparisons, down to the quality of the individual ingredients, to make sure we make common-sense comparisons customers would see as fair and meaningful. The origin of a product can be important and where it is, for example Melton Mowbray pies, we compare by origin too. Where it isn’t a key factor for customers, we don’t let it stand in the way of making a common-sense comparison,” Wood wrote in July.
