Sainsbury’s announcement that it will trial its Brand Match scheme is typically well-considered and in stark contrast to the language and style at the start of the current price war. The Asda CEO’s original ‘copper bottomed-guarantee’ at the beginning of this year, followed by Tesco’s ‘10% cheaper or double refund’ - and the subsequent rather embarrassing retraction – has done little to improve business or reputations. Sainsbury’s measured response however – if rolled out – will give them hugely valuable ‘KVI’ price positioning as well as extremely cheap market intelligence.
To me it looks like the beginning of the next phase of this campaign: open and sustained price competitively rather than attention-grabbing. It might be called ‘the consumer-benefit phase’.
Sainsbury’s recognise that they can only achieve their aim reputably with the aid of technology. ‘Price match’ data on paper tickets is too quickly out of date and expensive to maintain. A single point service, like Sainsbury’s Brand Match, is progress. Ultimately however, retailers will want to put their best and most persuasive information at the shelf-edge itself – where over 60% of buying decisions are made – with self-scanners, PDA apps or the new generation of graphic electronic shelf-edge labels.
And by the way, watch out for ‘guerrilla pricing’ Where there are long established price wars, soon someone will start to flex prices in select stores for short periods with the specific aim of wrong-footing the competition.
Jann Naef
Product Marketing Director
Jann.naef@zbdsolutions.com
