Sainsbury’s to invest £65m into prices next month to offset inflation pressure

Sainsbury’s has said it will pump £65 million into its pricing next month amid ratcheting pressure on customers’ budgets.

Simon Roberts, chief executive of the supermarket chain, promised the brand will stand with its customers “to ease the financial pressure they face”.

The latest pricing pledge – which is part of wider a £500 million investment commitment – comes as fresh figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reveal that customers witnessed 9.3% food inflation in August, compared with the same month last year.

The UK’s second largest grocery chain said £60 million of its latest cash injection will go towards food prices in September.

It said this will predominantly go towards the Price Lock campaign which freezes the price of a raft of its most popular products.

Around 2,000 food products and household items have had their prices fixed for at least eight weeks, including a number of own label lines.

Sainsbury’s said funding will also go towards its price match campaign against discounter rival Aldi.

Aldi and German rival Lidl have seen a jump in customer demand in recent months as cash-strapped shoppers have sought better deals for groceries as soaring energy bills continue to weigh on household spending.

Sainsbury’s said it would also use £5 million of its latest investment package to improve pricing at its Argos and Habitat homeware operations.

Mr Roberts added: “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.

“These are difficult times and all of us at Sainsbury’s are standing with our customers to ease the financial pressure they face.”