TESCO is promising to give customers money off if their weekly shop costs more than it would at Aldi or Lidl.

It is hitting back against the relentless loss of customers to the German discounters with a new 'price promise' guarantee.

This means that every time you shop at Tesco, it will compare the prices at checkout with those of comparable products at Aldi or Lidl. If your basket costs more, Tesco will give you a voucher for the difference to use next time you shop there.

Tesco said it expected to hand out around 13 million vouchers in the next year to customers, which will be worth between €10m and €13m.

GROCERIES

The price promise will apply to around 1,400 comparable grocery staples and will cover around 60pc of total sales, according to Tesco.

While the products compared will primarily be own-brand ones, the price promise will also cover identical branded items – such as Coca Cola or Budweiser – if they're also sold at one of the discounters.

Tesco marketing director Henry Dummer said the initiative was a huge venture for the supermarket chain and was aimed at halting the flow of customers to Aldi and Lidl, based on the belief that the two German companies were much cheaper.

The latest Kantar Worldpanel data shows Tesco's share of the grocery market slipped to 26.8pc last month, whereas Aldi and Lidl continued to enjoy double-digit growth.

The new price initiative begins today in all Tesco stores except Tesco Express and will be ongoing.

How plan will work

THE amount of chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie and the percentage of fat in mince have all been analysed by Tesco, in selecting which products it will compare on price with rivals Aldi and Lidl.

Around half a million shopping baskets a week will be compared automatically at their tills to assess if they are dearer than their German rivals, and Tesco expects to hand over money-off vouchers on up to 300,000 of these.

To get the price promise, customers will have to buy 10 or more items. Vouchers may then be used within 28 days.

Irish Independent