Which? reports that shopping at Waitrose can be cheaper than shopping at Sainsbury’s or Tesco when customers do not use loyalty schemes. The analysis compares grocery prices in scenarios where shoppers do not apply Nectar (for Sainsbury’s) or Clubcard (for Tesco) discounts. It says that, under those conditions, customers would pay more at Sainsbury’s or Tesco than at Waitrose.
The report also notes that loyalty programmes can change the price picture. It indicates that when Nectar and Clubcard offers are taken into account, the relative cost differences between the retailers shift, with one budget retailer still emerging as the cheaper option overall despite the higher baseline prices without loyalty discounts.
The outlets provide the same core finding from Which?: that eligibility and use of loyalty schemes materially affects how the supermarkets’ prices compare, and that Waitrose is positioned as cheaper specifically in a no-loyalty comparison against Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
