A shopper reduced their Asda weekly shop from £28 to £11.26 by using a simple trick recommended by Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert website, saving £17.22. The trick involves crouching down to find cheaper own-brand products placed on lower shelves.
The crouching trick explained
Consumer experts at Martin Lewis's Money Saving Expert website first suggested in 2017 that supermarkets deliberately place pricier products at eye level to encourage purchases, while more affordable own-brand alternatives are positioned lower down, requiring shoppers to crouch to spot them. They tested the theory across three supermarkets and found that own-brand items were often on the bottom shelf, typically in the bottom left corner.
Testing the hack at Asda
A reporter selected 10 everyday items and compared branded products against Asda's own-brand equivalents, noting their shelf positions. The items included instant coffee, Greek yoghurt, linguine pasta, pasta sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, marmalade, flour, almond milk, and bread.
For four of the 10 items, the reporter had to crouch to find the Asda own-brand alternative: Greek yoghurt (versus Fage), pasta sauce (versus Dolmio), ketchup (versus Heinz), and almond milk (versus Alpro). For some items, both branded and own-brand versions were on low shelves, such as mayonnaise (Hellmann's and Asda), marmalade (Golden Shred and Asda), flour (Be-Ro and Asda), and coffee (Nescafé and Asda). For pasta and bread, no crouching was needed.
Savings breakdown
The total cost of the own-brand shop was £11.26, compared to £28 for the branded alternatives, a saving of £17.22. The price differences were: Nescafé 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); Hellmann'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).
According to the reporter, the crouching trick remains effective, and opting for own-brand products can lead to significant savings on a weekly shop.
