Shoppers in southern counties yet to benefit from Tesco cuts

SHOPPERS in southern counties are paying 22% more for groceries at Tesco because they have yet to benefit from the supermarket’s price-cut initiative.

Earlier this year Tesco announced it was cutting prices on 12,500 products at its stores in the Republic by an average 22% as part of its €100 million Change for Good campaign.

It began the roll-out at its border stores, moving to stores in the West and then to Dublin.

However, Tesco refuses to say when the price-cut programme will hit stores in the South. It said the initiative will be in place in every store by the end of August, but until then shoppers in the counties such as Cork and Kerry will continue to pay the higher price for groceries in stores and also online.

A Tesco spokesman said the price cut initiative is a “big undertaking” as the company needs to configure its systems to adapt for the new prices. When asked why the supermarket decided to bring the price-cuts to Dublin before other cities in the South the spokesman said: “We are rolling out the cuts as fast and speedily as possible.”

He said shoppers in counties such as Cork can look forward to lower prices “when they come back from their holidays”. Tesco is spearheading a supermarket price war in Ireland which is seeing other supermarkets such as Dunnes Stores, SuperValu and Superquinn cutting prices as they battle for customers.

Tesco said 25,000 additional customers are visiting its stores each week since the chain introduced its price cuts to outlets near the border.

Tesco chief executive Tony Keohane said: “Consumer feedback from our price reductions across 15 counties to date has been extremely positive, confirming that reductions which offer depth of value are what consumers now expect from retailers.” The British supermarket chain has come under criticism recently for refusing to stock a number of Irish-made products as well as giving others less shelf space in favour of British-sourced, own-label goods.

Mr Keohane this week called for all grocery retailers to co-operate with a proposed grocery price comparison website which is being considered by the National Consumer Agency (NCA). The NCA has recently written to a number of retailers to explore the possibility of setting up a database of grocery prices.

“We are fully in support of this idea, but to be credible it must incorporate the full range of grocery products that consumers buy,” said Mr Keohane.

The Tesco chief wants the website to include a “broad reach of grocery products” which he said would provide valid comparisons.