Morrisons cuts the cost of 800 ‘everyday’ household items in a bid to win customers
The price drop includes 'everyday' items, including potatoes, meat, fish fingers and avocados
MORRISONS has kicked started a fresh supermarket price war by slashing the price of hundreds of “everyday” household items in a bid to win customers.
It has cut the cost of 800 products including potatoes, meat, fish fingers and avocados.
The supermarket said it was crunching prices by an average of 19 per cent to help customers who are feeling the pinch financially after a costly Christmas.
The price cut includes reducing the price of a a 2.5kg bag of King Edward Potatoes from £2 to £1.67.
As well as chopping the cost of a pineapple to 92p, down from £1.
Morrisons has also reduced the cost of a two-pack of avocados from £1.80 to £1.47.
However, the price is still 45p than Tesco which offers the same product for just £1, according to mySupermarket.com - reminding customers to compare prices across all shops before they buy.
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Andy Atkinson, Morrisons marketing and customer director said: “Many customers are feeling the pinch after Christmas so we are cutting prices, particularly on fresh food and everyday essentials.
“These price cuts will help families who are on a tighter budget and will continue to make Morrisons more competitive.”
The retailer is the first supermarket to slash prices this year, with other shops expected to follow its lead.
Before Christmas bargain supermarkets Lidl and Aldi cut the price of Christmas dinner essentials, including carrots, parsnips and Brussels sprouts, to just 19p a bag.
It followed a price cut by Asda, on the same items, to 20p per bag - dropping the price by up to 57 per cent.
The big four supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda - have been trying to win back customers in the face of competition from bargain shops Aldi and Lidl.
HOW TO GET THE CHEAPEST GROCERY SHOP
Compare prices using mysupermarket.com to see the cheapest supermarket based on the items in your basket.
It will also suggest items that you can "downshift" to own-brand items from branded names to save even more money.
For more expensive items, such as toilet roll and washing powder, you can find the cheapest price and decide whether to make a special trip to a shop for the lowest price.
Don't forget to check for vouchers and discount codes - and save even more cash by using them to get money off your shopping.
The price cuts come after warnings that the vote to leave the European Union in June last year would push up the cost of goods due to the falling value of the Pound.
Sterling has dropped by up to 17 per cent against the dollar and 10 per cent again the Euro - pushing up the prices of imported goods and raw materials.
This has caused some shops and manufacturers to push up the price of items, including a now-famous spat between Marmite and Pot Noodle maker, Unilever and Tesco.
The consumer goods giant wanted to push up the price of its items by 10 per cent, with the supermarket temporarily running out of stock.
However, the cost of a basket of groceries increased slightly in December but was still 3 per cent less than the year before. .
A basket of 35 popular grocery items cost £83.33 last month, up from £83.18 in November, according to monthly figures from comparison website mySupermarket.co.uk.
Fresh items saw the biggest price increases in December, such as carrots, up 9 per cent, bananas (8 per cent) and grapes (4 per cent).
But frozen favourites such as fish fingers were also up 4 per cent and frozen chips increased by 2 per cent compared with November.
MySupermarket chief executive Gilad Simhony said falling prices were likely to continue into 2017.
He said: "It's been an interesting year all round for UK markets but following the cost of an average basket of groceries over 2016 has given us some insight into the effects of Brexit and inflation on the UK shopper.
"Despite a rise in December, our basket costs less in December compared to January and shows how the highly competitive price wars between retailers has helped protect shoppers from any subsequent rises caused by current affairs."
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