Given Morrisons move to "invest" £1 billion to try to match Aldi and Lidl pricing how do you think it will all play out? Will Tesco and others join in?

Its quite a shrewd move by Morrisons as they don't need to cut their ticket prices - not that they do anyway, they just turn the screw harder on their suppliers - the price match campaign has the headline news that it will include Lidl and Aldi prices (something that no-one else does) but the scheme will work with a loyalty card and that the individual items in your basket of goods do not have to be at a lower price, if the price match shows that you could have bought the whole basket cheaper elsewhere then you'll be sent a voucher which you can then use the next time you shop in Morrisons.

Clever eh ?

What percentage of vouchers do you think will be redeemed and how much will shoppers spend while redeeming their vouchers, and when they do will the reduced price due to the voucher mean that the second shop wins in the price comparison ?

Its a great way to get customers to come back and spend more money with you even after you've told them that you aren't always the cheapest option.

Rather than taking chunks out of Lidl & Aldi, all the "Big Four" will do is take chunks out of each other.

This latest incentive from Morrisons simply reinforces the differences between the "Big Four" and the "Little Two". The major supermarket chains' selling model is complicated, confusing and adminstratively unweildy. Aldi & Lidl on the other hand, offer consumers less choice but by extensions are closer to their supplier base. In the latter case, both supplier and retailer know what is required of them and aim to achieve the goal of customer satisfaction.

Tesco and Sainsbury's do these vouchers....."we have over charged you today, but come back soon, we will rip you off again but we will also give you 3p off"

What they should do is knock the price off the bill there and then.

isn't it down to the individual to decide, if I go to Harrods I know I will pay a premium, likewise if I go to Waitrose, I expect to pay more than if I go to Morrisons, and if I go to Morrisons I expect to pay more than Liddle?

I don't think it's down to the supplier to reimburse me for decisions, it's down to me to take personal responsibility for my decisions.

But then, personal responsibility isn't popular in the "everybody owes me something" culture that was created in the last 20+ years.

Vote with your feet.

I've done the majority of my shopping at Lidl for the past 5 years now and and I can do a basic weekly shop for about £25 as opposed to £40 previously at Morrisons/ASDA. Once you get accustomed to the different names on their products it becomes second nature.

The big four rely on dumb shoppers who think big brands are everything. The sort who say "they've got to be Heinz baked beans or it's got to be John West tuna". You may not believe this but all those beans grow in the same soil and all that tuna is caught in the same seas whether it's John West, Princess, Morrisons own or imported stuff at Lidl. The sooner people wise up to this the sooner they will see their weekly shopping bills decrease.

I used to work with someone who wouldn't touch own brand products or go anywhere near Lidl or Aldi. A prime example of her was having to buy Old El Passo fajita kits. They cost over £3 but you can get own brand or similar kits at Lidl for half that. I mean, how specialist a product is a flour tortilla that you have to pay double for it?!

Supermarkets own brand is just big brand products in different packaging. Supermarkets don't manufacture anything, they just sell it. Can you imagine if supermarkets did manufacture all their own branded products? Every square inch of the UK would be covered in toothpaste factories, wine bottling plants, food processing plants, bakeries, aerosol manufacturers etc etc etc.

To be fair our local ALDI'S has one or two nice pieces working there but ASDA and Morrisons has superior customer eye candy if that's whats important.
I'm not that fussed about the prices.

Are you responding to a completely different thread?

If not there's a haystack somewhere that would like its straw men back

no, I am responding to the claim that Tesco et al are at fault, they do not FORCE anyone to shop there.

Where would that be then?

implicit criticism, I know the feeling you and others have expressed at anything remotely successful cod'ead.

I like Morrisons compared with the other big 4 but I think their chief executive hasn't got a clue. It will be interesting to see whether a full scale price war ensues. If it does it will cost them all dearly and cost a lot of jobs. Apparently, in 2003 in response to Aldi & Lidl a major Dutch supermarket tried to take them one. Food prices fell by 8%, the supermarket industry lost £700 million of profits in one year and 33,000 jobs were lost. Givewn our population is about 4 times theirs we could see mayhem if the big boys go into a price war. Can't see Aldi and Lidl losing out though as they have more efficient business models. Can see Morrisons going bust though.

Morrisons was advertising 20 Carlsberg for £11 on TV last night. Tried to order some this morning and they claim to be"out of stock". Omnishambles.

You're slipping even further off your trolley.

You appear to be suffering from the internet forum version of hearing voices

I'd call that a lucky escape