Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco among supermarkets shrinking their essentials ranges

Asda has confirmed it has shrunk the size of its Just Essentials budget range by 24 items from 293 to 269. The major supermarket launched the new basics range, Just Essentials, last year replacing its Smart Price brand with 50 percent more items. However, now Asda has decided to remove some of its Just Essentials range which includes their 70p dishwasher tablets, mild white cheddar cheese for £2.79 and lemonade. The cheap items have started to disappear from shelves and online, according to The Sun . A spokesperson for Asda said: “We launched Just Essentials over a year ago to make sure our customers could get the essentials they needed at great prices. The major supermarket launched the new basics range, Just Essentials, last year (Image: Getty) “Since then, we’ve changed a small number of products within the lineup for others to ensure the best choice and value for our customers – by removing some lines and adding others.” However, it seems Asda is not the only major UK supermarket to shrink its basics range. Asda’s rivals, , and Sainsbury’s have also cut back their value ranges over the last few years. ‘s ‘value’ range hit the shelves in 1993 but was phased out in favour of new brands in 2018. The original range had around 550 essential items but the new brands only offer customers 113 budget items. The number of items does differ depending on what’s in stock online and in-store. However, does price match around 700 items to Aldi. It also offers cheaper prices on certain items for those customers who have a Clubcard. ‘s ‘value’ range hit the shelves in 1993 but was phased out in favour of new brands in 2018 (Image: Getty) Sainsbury’s former ‘basics’ range used to have around 600 items but the brand’s new budget range, which relaunched last year under Stamford Street, only offers 202 products. The grocery store also has an Aldi Price Match campaign which matches 370 items to the low-cost brand. However, this figure includes 40 percent of the Stamford Street range which means the combined inventory of the two ranges is only 491 items. Sainsbury’s also offers customers cheaper prices on certain products if they have a Nectar card that they scan at the till. has slashed 30 items from its Savers range , taking the total number of products in the range from 250 to 220. A spokesperson for said: “Our Savers range continues to offer customers great value on the products they buy every day. “We’re continuing to invest in the brand and expand the range to meet our customers’ needs.” announced last month it would be rolling out its Savers range across its Daily convenience stores.