Sainsbury's take legal action against Tesco Price Promise
Supermarket giants Sainsbury’s will go to court over claims that their competitors’ Tesco Price Promise is misleading.
The case put forward by Sainsbury’s claims that the Price Promise doesn’t incorporate any ethical sourcing standards into its comparisons.
Sainsbury’s originally challenged Tesco in the ASA over the Price Promise scheme, in which Tesco matches products such as its Everyday Value Tea, which is not Fairtrade, with Sainsbury’s basics tea, which is.
Other examples include our basics water, which comes from a spring in Yorkshire, filtered through mineral-rich Greenmoor rock but which Tesco compares with its Everyday Value water, which comes from the mains water supply.
Sainsbury’s Commercial Director Mike Coupe said: "It’s time to take a stand on behalf of the huge majority or customers who want to be able to make fair comparisons when they shop. Tesco says that whether, for example, a product is Fairtrade or MSC certified is just a ‘minor part’ of a customer’s considerations – especially for value products.
"More than ever, customers want to be able to let their values guide them and in price-matching its products with ours Tesco is, when it sees fit, choosing to ignore factors such as ethical or provenance certification or even country of origin. We think that’s wrong and we’re pretty sure our customers do too."
However the Advertising standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that the Price Promise as it stands is not ‘misleading’ and has not upheld complaints about it from Sainsbury’s.
Sainsbury’s plans to go to judicial review on the grounds that the majority (86%) of customers thought that price comparisons should clearly state if ethical production standards were taken into consideration when matching prices.
This is according to a survey commissioned by Sainsbury’s which saw customers of all supermarkets showed 84% of customers make purchasing decisions on where and how food is produced.
Tesco however has bit back against the sustained criticism from Sainsbury by criticising Brand Match, Sainsbury’s own price comparison service
UK Marketing Director for Tesco, David Wood said: “Sainsbury’s argument against Price Promise has been heard and rejected twice already. Tesco Price Promise offers customers reassurance on the price of their whole shop, in store and online, not just the big brand products. When family budgets are under pressure, that is the kind of help customers want and the real question for Sainsbury’s is why they aren’t trying to do the same for their customers.”
In a blog earlier this year Mr Wood wrote: “A massive amount of work goes into making the comparisons, down to the quality of the individual ingredients, to make sure we make common-sense comparisons customers would see as fair and meaningful. The origin of a product can be important and where it is, for example Melton Mowbray pies, we compare by origin too. Where it isn’t a key factor for customers, we don’t let it stand in the way of making a common-sense comparison.”
