Price war in Mayo supermarkets

Price war in Mayo supermarkets


Super Valu promise to go ‘toe to toe’ with Tesco in price cuts

Edwin McGreal

CONSUMERS in Mayo are set to benefit from a price war between the three biggest supermarkets - Tesco, Super Valu and Dunnes Stores.
Noel Kavanagh, the leading Super Valu proprietor in Mayo, has come out fighting this week after both Tesco and, just yesterday, Dunnes announced extensive price cuts.
“We will not give an inch to Tesco. We will not relinquish our market share, we will fight very strongly to maintain our position across the country and we will be marking down 2,000 products in our stores across the country, which will come into effect next Monday,” Kavanagh told The Mayo News yesterday.
Tesco stores in their five locations in Mayo - Castlebar, Ballina, Westport, Claremorris and Ballinrobe - were closed on Monday and Tuesday of last week ahead of the high-profile launch of their ‘Price Check’ on Wednesday.
The scheme has led to what Tesco describe as an average cut of 22% over a range of 12,000 products.
Kenny Jacobs, Marketing Manager for Tesco Ireland, was in Castlebar on Wednesday last for the launch at that store and told The Mayo News that cuts were in response to a huge demand from customers for better prices, particularly with savings available in Northern Ireland.
“Ireland has reached a point where we’ve gotta put a line in the sand and we need to do things differently. One thing is absolutely clear - people are screaming for better prices.”
But a war of words has also broken out on how these cuts will impact on Irish producers and suppliers. Super Valu and Dunnes Stores both promote their ‘Irishness’ heavily in advertising campaigns but Kenny Jacobs argues that Tesco buy more Irish products than anyone.
“We’re absolutely committed to local suppliers and local producers. As a company there is no one who buys more Irish food than Tesco. We buy €2bn of Irish food to sell in our stores in Ireland, we’re more than happy to get all the products of the local suppliers on the shelves. We listen to customers and whatever customers want, we’ll sell to them.”
However Noel Kavanagh argues that Super Valu are more beneficial to Irish producers.
“We will continue to maintain and promote our business with Irish suppliers and producers. We have an active policy of supporting Irish producers, unlike our competitors, despite what they might say.
“We will match them, we will go toe to toe with them. Tesco might argue that they are supporting Irish but look at their shelf space and you will see how they are English-ising everything.”
Vice-Chairman of the Consumer Association of Ireland, Castlebar man Michael Kilcoyne warns of the dangers such cuts may have on Irish jobs.
“Above all else this is a time when we need to support Irish produced goods. My big concern is that Tesco appear to be forcing down the prices of producers, particularly farmers supplying vegetables, meat and dairy products.
“They are forcing down profits for these producers but their own profit margins have remained the same and sometimes went higher. I would be worried that Tesco are forcing things so hard that it will result in a loss of Irish jobs at the producers end.
“I would similarly ask that Super Valu give producers of Irish products a fair go, but they do anyway. Anything that benefits the consumer is to be welcomed, providing that it is not at a cost to Irish jobs.”