Asda to increase Smart Price products’ availability after Jack Monroe complaints

The supermarket faced criticism from the poverty campaigner, who said many of the products from the range were no longer available.

From March 1, bosses will roll out the 200 lines to all 581 stores (Rui Vieira/PA) (PA Wire)

Asda has confirmed it will nearly double the number of stores that offer its lowest-priced value range to help tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

The supermarket said of the 200 lines making up its Smart Price and Farm Stores products, 150 are available in 300 stores across the country.

But from March 1, bosses will roll out the 200 lines to all 581 stores as the cost of products rise due to higher transportation costs and increased wages and energy bills.

Poverty campaigner Jack Monroe has been highlighting that low-cost products have risen in price or disappeared (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Archive)

The issue has been highlighted by poverty campaigner Jack Monroe who forced the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to change the way it presents inflation data to reflect the impact on different products.

She complained that the cost of everyday essentials was going up in price more than official inflation rates.

Ms Monroe also said several items from the Smart Price range were no longer available online.

Meg Farren, Asda’s chief customer officer, said: “We want to help our customers’ budgets stretch further and have taken on board the comments about the availability of our Smart Price range made by Jack Monroe.

“We are taking steps to put our full Smart Price and Farm Stores ranges in store and online to make these products as accessible as possible.”

The supermarket has also added 100 Smart Price and Farm Stores products to its website this week, increasing the total online range to 187 products, and this will rise to 200 by the end of February.