By Sean Poulter, Consumer Affairs Editor A supermarket price war is inevitable if the ‘big four’ supermarkets are to take on the threat posed by budget rivals, according to a leading City expert. Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have been losing market share to the fast growing discount chains, Aldi and Lidl. David Cumming, who is responsible for investing billions of pounds of pension funds cash, says they will have to slash prices if they are to stop the loss of customers becoming a stampede. The more established UK supermarket chains might be losing out to the super-cheap German mega-stores, who can offer interesting brands at much lower prices, and have an emphasis on bulk goods
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A price war is coming, according to experts in supermarket economics
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UK supermarket chains have been losing money to the German mega-stores
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Sales down at Christmas for UK stores, hitting profits
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Many major British stores 'ducking the challenge' set by Aldi and Lidl
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Aldi and Lidl are beating major supermarkets on name-brand item price
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Asda reduces many items to 50p in a bid to contend with losses
‘@placeholder, Tesco, Asda and, to some extent, Sainsbury’s are all losing customers at an increasingly rapid pace to the discounters, mainly Aldi and Lidl,’ he said.