Tesco to accept Sainsbury's 'Brand Match' coupons until June

Tesco has announced that it will start accepting Sainsbury's "Brand Match" coupons, the latter's price-match initiative. The British supermarket chain added that customers could use these coupons at its stores from 11 April up until June.

The move follows Sainsbury's announcing on 7 April that it would end this coupon scheme, which allowed customers to claim back the additional money spent at its stores on branded goods if they could prove that these goods were available cheaper at rival Asda. The campaign was launched by Sainsbury's in 2011 to ensure that rival supermarket chains could not sell branded items at prices cheaper than it.

Sainsbury's said it would stop issuing these coupons from 27 April but would accept them for up to a fortnight after that. With regards to the reason behind this move, Sainsbury's explained: "We believe in clear, simple pricing and over the past 18 months we've been lowering regular prices on thousands of products, removing complicated price promotions like fractions and percentages and reducing the number of multibuys. By ending brand match, we can invest more in what you tell us matters."

Tesco's announcement today (11 April) means customers will be able to use their leftover Sainsbury's coupons. This coupons campaign is in fact similar to Tesco's "Brand Guarantee" scheme, which was launched in October 2015. While Sainsbury's allows customers to claim the money back at the time of their next purchase, Tesco's "Brand Guarantee" scheme immediately pays the customer at the till the difference in price if its products are priced higher than its three main competitors — Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's.

Matt Davies, CEO of Tesco UK and Ireland, commented: "This is a little help for Sainsbury's customers from us at Tesco. It also provides the opportunity for Sainsbury's customers to experience Tesco's Brand Guarantee, which we launched in October, and has been universally welcomed by our customers."

"Tesco has also invested in bringing down the price of leading brands and have introduced simple, more affordable prices on many of the everyday, own label products customers rely on," Davies added.

The move comes as Tesco is set to unveil on 13 April a return to full-year profits and the first quarter of UK sales growth in three years. This would prove that the turnaround plan chalked by Dave Lewis, Tesco's chief executive, is working.