3 hours Ago By Alex Evans
Asda shoppers have spotted a huge change to all prices in stores that has been dubbed ‘weird’ and ‘strange’ by customers. The supermarket has launched a fresh push on prices after sales fell 0.8% last year, with more Rollback offers and more investment into stores, according to Asda boss Allan Leighton.
But one change that customers have noticed in recent months is that prices no longer end in round numbers most of the time, and instead are using odd increments. Posting in the Asda sub Reddit , r/cumulus-crafts said: “I was walking around the store, and noticed that a vast majority of the products are now priced like £5.63, £9.
98, £3.07, ect. Finishing every price on a number that isn't 5 or 0.
“I know it's so that we feel like we're saving more money, but man. It feels weird. It feels like they've added on an extra tax onto the base price of the product and built it into the overall price, and that's why everything now ends in a strange number.
” And the same was spotted in r/AskUK. r/mist3rdragon said: “I want to know what’s up with their prices in general recently? So many random prices that aren’t near a round number. It’s like they’re trying to make it harder to keep track of your spending while you’re walking around.
” Right now, offers available on the Asda website include Fairy Platinum dishwasher tablets for £8.98, two for £4.98 on sausages and Weetabix for £2.
62. Other prices include Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for £2.98 and Asda Tikka chicken breast for £2.
94. Lurpak 750g is £7.77, while Asda fresh double cream is £1.
68. Asda mince is £2.58, while salmon fillets are £3.
88 and Warburtons large barm cakes are £1.62. Another user, u/classic_mammoth_9379, said that the pricing is a deliberate change to make prices appear cheaper.
They said: “Current boss hates the round numbers apparently, thinks it makes things look artificially inflated priced if it’s all round numbers, giving a price to the nearest penny supposedly makes you realise they aren’t rounding and taking those extra pennies from you.” Asda , which is the UK’s third-largest supermarket, launched a turnaround plan under chairman Mr Leighton, who returned to the business 25 years after he was its chief executive. Efforts to revive the business come as it revealed its total sales, excluding fuel, hit £21.
7 billion last year – down 0.8% from the year before. In January, Asda said it had brought back its Rollback pricing scheme which saw the prices of more than 4,000 products in store and online slashed by an average of 25%.
It plans to continue to add thousands of new products to Rollback at regular intervals during the year as it looks to move its entire range to a new low “Asda Price”. Mr Leighton added: "Following the return of Rollback in January, our price advantage has strengthened and customers’ perceptions of the value we offer is starting to improve. “While regaining customers’ trust will take time, we will undertake a substantive and well-backed programme of investment in price, availability and the shopping experience to deliver this.
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