Sainsbury's Shelves Brand Match Price Pledge

Sainsbury (Amsterdam: SJ6.AS - news) 's is shelving its Brand Match pricing pledge in favour of "lower regular prices" following feedback from customers.

The supermarket chain announced the move as the industry remains in the grip of a price war, which has resulted in the established 'big four' - also including Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) , Asda and Morrisons - battling to grow their customer bases following an exodus to hard discounters such as Aldi and Lidl.

Sainsbury's introduced Brand Match in 2011.

The promotion gave shoppers money-off vouchers if they could have bought branded goods cheaper at Asda but customers were only eligible if they had bought at least 10 items in-store.

Industry trends suggest more shoppers are buying little and often rather than large weekly shops - reducing the value of schemes such as Brand Match.

Sainsbury's confirmed it would no longer offer the vouchers after 26 April.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) said the savings would be "wholly reinvested" in lowering the cost of everyday groceries and cleaning products.

Marketing director, Sarah Warby, said: "Customers have told us that they want lower regular prices, and that this is more important to them than Brand Match.

"We've taken this on board and will now be investing all of the money from the scheme into lowering the regular prices on everyday products."

Supermarkets have been under pressure to opt for simpler pricing models following fierce criticism from consumer groups of misleading tactics.

The Competition and Markets Authority stopped short of ordering a full inquiry last year but concluded there were areas of poor practice and warned chains to clean up their act .

In response, multi-buy deals are largely being phased out in favour of simpler pricing, according to the industry.

Sainsbury's, which announced in February that it was to end multi-buy and buy-one-get-one-free promotions, is currently the best performer out of the major chains in terms of sales growth.

Like its major rivals it has been cutting costs to invest in bolstering its in-store offering, with a union warning earlier this week that a store jobs plan announced by the company could place hundreds of roles at risk .