The frozen food supermarket has expanded its £1 or less range to now include over 1,000 products, alongside the return of its £10 for 10, buy 2, get 1 free and half-price must-haves in store and online.

Research commissioned by Iceland found that January is the most financially difficult month of the year for half of the population (50%).

A further 50% of Brits say they are actively searching for ways to save on food and essentials, with over half (56%) adjusting their shopping habits to cut costs.

Iceland Foods executive chairman Richard Walker said: “We know families are looking to reduce spending in all aspects of everyday life and we know that we need to do our bit to help.

“January will be a struggle for millions, it’s no secret that bills are going to rise and it’s going to hit some families extremely hard. That’s why we’re stepping up, expanding our £1 or less lines and introducing hundreds of deals. We’re here to help this January.”

Iceland joins Asda, which has slashed the prices on over 2,500 household essentials, offering an average discount of 26% both in-store and online, as part of its “Big Jan Price Drop” initiative.

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The online supermarket is listing more than 300 of the specialist’s products over the coming weeks for customers to purchase vitamins, supplements, sports nutrition alongside their groceries.

Ocado said the new range is designed to cater to a wide variety of health shopping missions and means that shoppers “can find everything they need to achieve their goals and support their wellness needs in one place”.

The digital retailer’s chief commercial officer Amit Chitnis said: “We already have a great range of health and wellness products – including branded, Ocado Own Brand and of course M&S – but with many customers looking for even more choice in this area, we are delighted to now add Holland & Barrett, a specialist in this space and a well-respected and trusted high street retailer.

“This partnership allows our customers to get everything for their nutrition and wellness needs conveniently delivered by Ocado, from apples to ashwagandha.”

Holland & Barrett commercial trading director UK&I Guy Farmer added: “The partnership with Ocado is an exciting moment for our business as we look to make health and wellness a way of life for everyone, adding quality years to life.

“With a carefully selected range of own brand products, our work with Ocado will complement the great work we are both already doing to grow the health and wellness market bringing new innovative products across vitamins, supplements, food and sport nutrition to more customers.

“This is just the first step in what we see as a strategic partnership for H&B and represents a key part of our ambitious transformation strategy, as we look to become our customers first choice for wellness products, advice and solutions.”

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The surge in festive shopping pushed the retailer’s turnover to a record high, exceeding £1bn ($1.25bn) for the first time in its 30-year history in the UK, Reuters reported.

It increased its British supply base by 20% this holiday season, which saw it sell over 16 million British pigs in blankets, while its British turkeys sold once every second.

Lidl has also revealed sales figures for its popular Christmas products, including 8 million units of stuffing balls and 2 million litres of gravy.

The retailer’s busiest day during the holiday season was 23 December, marking what it called its “most successful Christmas yet.”

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The German discounter – Britain’s sixth biggest supermarket chain, was the fastest growing bricks-and-mortar grocer in the year to end-November, with sales up 6.6% year-on-year, Kantar said last month.

Lidl CEO Ryan McDonnell said: “For three decades, Lidl has been providing households with access to unbeatable quality and value at Christmas. This year, we were thrilled to welcome more customers than ever before.

“That’s a strong reflection of the trust our customers place in us and the dedication of our colleagues and suppliers, who work so hard to deliver an outstanding Christmas for the communities we serve.

“In 2024, we continued to raise the bar with product innovation, especially within our Deluxe range, as well as supporting all the community initiatives that are deeply important to us. It’s all been about bringing people together and sharing the joy of Christmas.

“Looking ahead, we’re excited to build on our momentum, growing our presence across the country and continuing to deliver the highest quality at the best prices on the market.”

This milestone comes as the grocer continues to expand its footprint and appeal across the UK. Just before Christmas, it opened a host of new stores in preparation for the big day.

The budget grocer launched four new stores in Shinfield, Bovey Tracey, Downham Market, and Stirchley.

Alongside these, a new store in Connah’s Quay replaced the town’s old Lidl, while its Chessington site has reopened following a full refurbishment and extension.

The openings form part of Lidl’s expansion plans, which will see it launch a further eight stores at the start of 2025 followed by around 40 more in its next financial year.

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Asda has kicked off the new year by cutting prices on more than 2,500 household essentials, offering an average discount of 26% both in-store and online.

The grocer’s initiative, part of its “Big Jan Price Drop,” includes well-known brands such as Cathedral City Mature Cheddar, Dolmio Bolognese Sauce, and Persil Wonder Wash, alongside reductions on Asda own-brand items like whole chicken and salmon fillets.

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Asda’s announcement comes in the wake of rival Morrisons expanding its Aldi and Lidl price match scheme to cover over 500 items, including olive oil, eggs, and coffee.

The initiative, launched last year with just over 200 products, is part of the wider effort by supermarkets to remain competitive amidst ongoing cost-of-living pressures.

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Introduced in partnership with online pharmacy Phlo and accessed via the supermarket’s website, the Morrisons Clinic service requires customers to complete an online questionnaire that will be used to assess their suitability for their chosen medication.

If approved by Phlo’s healthcare professionals, the prescription will be sent to the customer via Royal Mail Tracked 24.

Conditions supported by the grocer‘s clinic range from acid reflux, acne, erectile dysfunction and hair loss to hay fever, migraine and premature ejaculation. The service also offers contraceptives and products for the menopause, weight loss and period delay.

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Morrisons head of service John Parry said: “We know how frustrating it can be waiting to see your GP for an appointment, so we’re delighted to be launching the Morrisons Clinic.

“Our customers will now be able to order medication for a number of different health and lifestyle conditions quickly and conveniently, all at competitive prices.”

The service is currently only available to customers in England.

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These will include up to 25 new Co-op operated stores with the first stores launching in early 2025 at The Anchorage in Salford Quays and East Benton in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

It comes comes as part of wider plans to open 120 new Co-ops over the next four years.

Alongside its traditional grocery offering, the stores will include added services including parcel collection and returns, as well as payment services. They will also operate as a hub for Co-op’s online quick commerce operation.

A further 50 sites are also expected to open as franchise stores this tear, allowing the retailer to operate in locations where it may not otherwise be able to access.

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The supermarket chain will also refurbish 80 existing stores this year. Some of the stores that are set for a re-launch following major makeovers in early 2025 include those in Exeter, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Avonmouth, Hereford and Clapham.

Co-op MD Matt Hood said: “We want everyone to have easy and convenient access to a Co-op store, wherever they live, and this year we are completely focused on achieving that through an ambitious and exciting new stores strategy.

“Our stores play an active role in local life, and are often a community hub, providing the products and services our members and customers want and need.”

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It will run across TV, VOD, press, digital audio, pr, paid and organic digital and social, as well as in-store and CRM for the next month.

The 30 second TV ad spotlights the Brain Ball, the hero line from the new 13-piece Brain Food range which has been developed in partnership with the British Nutrition Foundation.

Through the voice of British actor and comedian Mark Heap, Brian the Brain ball is subtly animated in a back-and-forth conversation with M&S Food ambassador Dawn French as the pair showcase the innovation of the product and highlight the product’s nutrients.

The digital out of home will spotlight the Yay! Mushrooms AM & PM Cold Pressed Shots, targeting commuters to kickstart their day with the AM shot and wind down in the evening with the PM shot.

The YAY! Mushrooms range has been created in partnership with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and includes five new drinks featuring two key fungi, lion’s Mane and reishi.

M&S Food marketing and loyalty director Sharry Cramond said: “Insight, quality and innovation is at the heart of everything we do and these two new first to market own label ranges, M&S Brain Food and YAY! Mushrooms, are the perfect examples of when these three marry together.

“We’re seen as the leading retailer offering healthy choices and 80% of our customers say they are concerned about their cognitive/brain health, so it really made sense for us to introduce Brain Food to our Foodhalls.

“YAY! Mushrooms taps into our adventurous customers who love to try new things and also aims to open us up to new customers who may be familiar with lion’s mane but have not tried them in a delicious drink. The campaign brings to life the unique ‘only at M&S’ innovation, which is central to our marketing strategy as we have a complete ban on the generic.

“We’re absolutely obsessed by the quality of the products in our Foodhalls and that’s why we’ve partnered with industry experts to support our claims on both ranges. This January, M&S truly is the home of health and we can’t wait to see what customers think of our exciting, tasty and beneficial new products.”

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The new additions, including olive oil, coffee, eggs and pasta sauce, will join the hundreds of existing items already matched in price against the discounters, such as bananas, potatoes, broccoli and onions.

The supermarket, which compares and adjusts the cost of its products twice a week, launched its price match in February last year across more than 200 products.

Morrisons head of price Gareth Lloyd said: “We’re starting 2025 by doubling down on value for our customers. Expanding our Price Match means more of the essentials and brands customers love at the prices they expect, with the quality they trust from Morrisons.

“This builds on the savings and rewards we’ve introduced throughout the year – from price cuts to better deals for our More Card members. It’s all about helping shoppers get more for their money.”

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The chain’s value offer and rapidly expanding store network in recent years saw it overtake Morrisons to become the UK’s fourth largest supermarket in 2022.

According to GlobalData, the German discounter could also knock Asda off its spot as the nation’s third biggest supermarket in as early as 2028, as Asda’s hold on the market has steadily fallen over the last year.

Retail Gazette examines how likely this is to happen by comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the rival grocers.

Where do Asda and Aldi currently stand?

Aldi’s record £536.7m pre-tax profit in the year to December 2023 is a big leap from the £152.6m it reported the previous year.

The discounter attributed its steep growth to its 16% surge in sales to £17.9bn and improved efficiencies across its stores and central operations.

Its results are a stark contrast to Asda, which reported a return to profit earlier this year of £180m in the year to end of December 2023, up from a £432m loss in 2022.

That said, sales for the UK’s third largest grocer were still £4bn higher than Aldi’s at £21.9bn for the year, rising 7.1% year on year.

Around 18% of Asda’s sales came from its ecommerce operations, which include online delivery, collection, and delivery via Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats.

This is in stark contrast to Aldi which revealed last month that it was closing down its click-and-collect service after four years.

However, this is not hampering the discounter. According to Kantar’s, Asda’s hold on the market has plunged dropping 1.2 percentage points to 12.6% over the past year while Aldi’s has edged down 0.2 percentage point to 9.9%.

Stores

Aldi is racing ahead with its store expansion plans, revealing this week it was ploughing £800m into accelerating its quest to reach 1,500 stores nationwide.

The discounter has more than 1,020 stores across the UK, and plans to open an average of one new store a week between now and Christmas, with the discounter having recently been in talks with the government over planning reform to speed up openings. 

Asda has 1,200 stores, most recently opening its Hale Barns store near Altrincham, and has unveiled plans for a mixed-use redevelopment of its of its ten-acre Park Royal store in May.

However, in April it was reported that it was among the supermarkets resorting to selling shops to bring down its significant debts. 

While Aldi is focused on growing its network, it emerged last month that Asda is cutting back on opening new convenience stores to focus its funds on addressing issues in its existing store network instead.

The supermarket, which opened its first Asda Express shop in 2022, previously revealed it was targeting 300 convenience stores by the end of 2026. However, as of last month, it has only opened nine.

Asda said its original target to open 30 Express stores this year had been scaled back to just 12, but that it was still planning to open 300 stores “in the medium term”.

The grocer also completed the conversion of 478 c-stores bought from the Co-op and EG UK to Asda Express during its second quarter this year.

While Asda is pushing into convenience, Aldi is remaining steadfast with its standard store format.

It has only deviated from its core store format a couple of times over the last five years, opening its first “local” store in 2019 in Balham designed to meet the increasing demand of shoppers in London. 

The format, which was expanded to 10 stores, stocks approximately 1,500 items compared to the 1,800 usually sold in standard Aldi stores.

However, a spokeswoman for the discounter noted at the time that this was “not a move into convenience retailing”. 

Aldi also runs a Shop & Go checkout free store in Greenwich, marking another format experiment.

The store offers customers a checkout-free shopping experience, where they can use the Shop & Go app or contactless payment to shop without scanning any products in-store.

However, in January the supermarket introduced a contactless payment option to the stores, raising a question mark over the popularity of the format.

In a similar vein, Amazon ditched its first UK ‘Just Walk Out’ store in 2023, which opened just over two years before, suggesting the format may not be popular among shoppers.

Which grocer offers better value?

Aldi was the cheapest supermarket for August 2024, according to Which?, coming in at £110.58 on average for its shopping list of 62 popular groceries, continuing its long-running streak as the UK’s most affordable grocer.

It has taken the title every month so far this year.

Which? said Asda was the third cheapest, behind Lidl, charging £121.85 for the same products, having come in third place every month so far this year apart from June.

Aldi has invested almost £100m in over 300 price cuts over the past three months. In April, it also vowed to beat the £380m it invested in price cuts last year, having already ploughed over £125m into reducing prices on around 500 products since the start of 2024.

As well as offering low prices, Aldi also recently launched a back-to-school fund to support families with the expensive period of buying children clothing and stationery for the new school year in another testament to its value offering.

Meanwhile, Asda invested £70m in slashing the price of essentials in May. In January, it became the first supermarket to price match both Aldi and Lidl, and slashed prices on more than 200 branded and own-label products in October.

Asda presented a renewed trading plan last month for the rest of its second half, revealing it would have a key focus on driving further use of its Asda Rewards loyalty app, which is already used in 52% of its transactions.

Some of the benefits offered by the scheme include shoppers earning 10% back after purchasing certain products, earning Asda Pounds for completing shopping tasks, and being able to convert the Cashpot balance into vouchers.

The loyalty scheme now has more than six million regular users, with participation rising on a quarterly basis. In April, the retailer claimed its focus on loyalty and prices had delivered growth for the supermarket throughout last year, highlighting the scheme as a “key revenue driver”.

Aldi is the only major UK supermarket without a loyalty scheme, with its managing director of buying Julie Ashfield telling The Mirror it instead wanted to “focus on supplying consistent great value to all customers” rather than rewarding some customers in 2022.

However, Aldi’s pricing is seen as a benchmark across the industry, with various supermarkets touting Aldi Price Match campaigns.

Tesco was the first supermarket to launch an Aldi Price Match campaign in early 2020, with Sainsbury’s following suit in 2021 and Morrisons launching the scheme in February.

Where are they investing?

Following Asda’s disappointing second quarter results in August, it set out three key areas to focus on to improve performance as it aims to deliver an “enhanced and more consistent in-store experience” for shoppers for the rest of the year.

In terms of customer satisfaction, Asda is investing an extra £30m into staff hours to strengthen its customer proposition, in hopes to improve replenishment of stock during opening hours, increase its number of workers on checkouts over weekends, and provide a more effective cleaning programme in stores.

The grocery giant is also ploughing cash into improving product availability across all categories, including its 1,000 core grocery lines most important to customers.

Thirdly, Asda vowed to deliver a renewed trading plan, focused on driving increased use of Asda Rewards.

Similarly, in May Asda unveiled a £50m store upgrade programme for its larger sites, expected to complete by the end of November.

The grocer said the move would see 50 of its larger stores “receive major upgrades”, including the introduction of new in-store services and features. Meanwhile, its remaining stores received “refreshed exterior and interior decoration” to reflect its new brand identity launch. 

However, the moves come as the supermarket continues to grapple with debts, following its acquisition by the Issa brothers and TDR Capital in 2021, which has stunted its ability to make large investments.

Aldi on the other hand unveiled it was investing an “unprecedented” £800m into its UK expansion.

The grocer is set to spend £1.4bn over the next two years in efforts to lower prices and open stores, while creating thousands of jobs and more opportunities for British suppliers.

It also said in June that it was investing £90m into its store upgrade programme, with UK managing director of national real estate Jonathan Neale explaining at the time: “We’re committed to making sure that the shopping experience is on a par with the high-quality products and service we offer.”

Over 30 of the discounter’s stores underwent refurbishments over the summer, while is said more than 100 were set to receive upgrades later in the year.

Asda vs Aldi: Who will win?

As more and more thrift shoppers seek out the discounters, does Aldi really have what it takes to surpass Asda as the UK’s third largest supermarket?

Aldi certainly seems to have the upper hand in terms of value, and stands firm in its strategies of avoiding loyalty schemes and ecommerce. The discounter is also beating Asda in terms of profits, with its record £536.7m for the year to December 2023, which seemingly is fueling more investment into its expansion.

The discounter’s UK and Ireland boss Giles Hurley said this week: “For every £1 of profit generated last year, we’re investing £2 this year – opening more stores and building the supply infrastructure to bring high-quality, affordable groceries to millions more families the length and breadth of Britain. ”

However, Asda still pulls in higher sales than its rival, and is determined to turn things around under its investment strategy.

GlobalData senior analyst Eleanor Simpson-Gould warns Asda will need to “redefine itself with a clear differentiation from discounters” if it wants to maintain its position as the third biggest grocer.

She argues: “To offset the threat to its third-place ranking, Asda will need to add intangible value to an intensified focus on price.” 

“Unless Asda can drive stronger sales through improved store experiences, an intensified focus on price and improving locality to consumers, it is increasingly likely to be overtaken by Aldi in the next five years,” she adds.

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The luxury department store said it had put caps on orders of its Christmas hampers because of high demand, The Telegraph reported.

The retailer, which launched a pop-up in Heathrow Terminal 4 earlier this month, has been the subject of complaints across X – formerly Twitter – with some shoppers claiming they had been placed on hold for over three hours after calling the store’s customer service line.

The hampers contain a selection of luxury goods such as caviar, truffle oil, English sparkling wine, chocolates and preserves, and a selection of teas.

A spokesman for the Fortnum & Mason told the publication: “Unfortunately, a combination of high demand coupled with some staffing issues at our new distribution centre has meant some of our customers have experienced delays to their orders.

“As a result, our customer services teams are receiving an increased volume of contacts this Christmas, which has resulted in delays to response times in some instances.”

They added: “To help solve this, we’ve been limiting the number of orders that we accept, to focus on fulfilling the orders that have already been placed.

“We are truly sorry for the delays and our customer service colleagues are doing everything in their power to resolve all outstanding queries as quickly as possible.”

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