// Sainsbury’s is to invest £65 million into prices this September
// The retail group will plough £60 million into value initiatives in food; the remaining £5 million will be invested into furniture prices at Argos and Habitat
Sainsbury’s is investing £65 million into a “September price blitz” to ease the pressure on hard-pressed consumers.
The grocer said it was its “biggest ever September value offer”. It will invest £60 million into food and grocery, which will be ploughed into its Sainsbury’s Quality, Aldi Price Match campaign, Price Lock promise and everyday Special Offers.
The additional £5 million will be spent lowering the price of up to 900 Argos and Habitat furniture items, which it said would enable people to get their homes ready for Christmas without breaking the bank.
Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts said: “We know how tough this ‘back to school’ season is going to be for our customers. With families across the country facing big increases in their energy bills, the situation is serious and our most important job at Sainsbury’s is to help our customers in every way we can.
“We have made huge strides to lower prices since we launched our new plan but we are committed to going further.”
The latest value investment in food is part of Sainsbury’s pledge to spend £500 million by March 2023 to keep prices low.
The supermarket noted that budget-conscious shoppers were increasingly choosing own brand products, which is why it is increasing the number of own-brand items in its Sainsbury’s Price Lock by 20%.
READ MORE: Can Asda topple Sainsbury’s to become the UK’s second biggest grocer?
Price Lock holds the prices of up to 2,000 household and cupboard items for at least eight weeks, and includes around 8% of all the products Sainsbury’s sells. This includes 500g penne locked at 85p, bleach at 50p and washing up liquid at 45p.
Roberts said: “Own brand is a great way for customers to reduce their shopping bill with no compromise on quality and that’s why we’re increasing the number of own-brand products in our latest Price Lock. These are difficult times and all of us at Sainsbury’s are standing with our customers to ease the financial pressure they face.”
Meanwhile, its Sainsbury’s Quality, Aldi Price Match will continue to focus on the highest volume, fresh items with 42% of the top 50 supermarket volume lines now included in the campaign.
Customer favourites such as 1kg chicken breast fillets, 750g of 5% fat beef mince (750g), and 10 J. James free range eggs are all sold at the same price as Aldi.
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