Shoppers could save over £17 on their weekly grocery shop simply by looking lower on the shelves. A test at Asda found that buying own-brand items instead of branded equivalents reduced a basket of 10 common items from £28 to just £11.26, a saving of £17.22.
What is the crouching trick?
Consumer experts at Martin Lewis's Money Saving Expert site first proposed the theory in 2017 that supermarkets place more expensive items at eye level to encourage purchases, while cheaper own-brand products are positioned lower down, requiring shoppers to crouch. Their original test across three supermarkets concluded: 'We found supermarkets place own brand items down on the bottom shelf, often positioned in the bottom left hand corner of the display.'
Testing the hack at Asda
To see if the trick still holds, a reporter visited a local Asda and compared the prices and shelf positions of 10 common items: instant coffee, Greek yoghurt, linguine pasta, pasta sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, marmalade, flour, almond milk, and bread. Of these, four own-brand alternatives required crouching to reach: Asda Greek yoghurt versus Fage, Asda pasta sauce versus Dolmio, Asda ketchup versus Heinz, and Asda almond milk versus Alpro. For some items, both branded and own-brand versions were on the bottom shelf, including mayonnaise, marmalade, and flour. For pasta and bread, neither required crouching.
Savings breakdown
The total for own-brand items was £11.26, compared to £28 for branded equivalents. The full price comparison is as follows:
- Nescafe Instant Coffee (£6) vs Asda Instant Coffee (£2.28)
- Fage Greek Yoghurt (£3.65) vs Asda Greek Yoghurt (£1.70)
- Napolina Linguine (£1.57) vs Asda linguine (80p)
- Dolmio pasta sauce (£2.59) vs Asda pasta sauce (69p)
- Hellman's mayonnaise (£3.25) vs Asda mayonnaise (93p)
- Heinz ketchup (£4.70) vs Asda ketchup (£1.35)
- Golden Shred marmalade (£1.90) vs Asda marmalade (85p)
- Be-Ro flour (£1.97) vs Asda flour (70p)
- Alpro almond milk (£1.62) vs Asda almond milk (£1.41)
- Kingsmill bread (£1.25) vs Asda white bread (55p)
Broader context
While food inflation has recently slowed, the cost of living remains high due to multiple economic shocks including the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, the war in Ukraine, and the US-Iran War. Simple hacks like switching to own-brand items can help households save money on their weekly shop.
