Waitrose accuses Asda of stealing ‘essentials’ brand name from new budget range

The budget supermarket is launching a new ‘Just Essentials’ brand, which Waitrose says is too similar to its’ ‘Essential Waitrose’ range

The cost of groceries is now 5.2 per cent higher than it was a year ago, (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Asda faces a legal battle with Waitrose after the budget supermarket announced plans to launch a new cut-price range called “Just Essentials by Asda”.

Waitrose has challenged the name, which is similar to its “Essential Waitrose” brand, which was first introduced in 2099.

Asda plans to sell 300 “Just Essentials” items in 581 shops from May, with the retailer saying the range would be “the largest budget-friendly essentials range in the market”.

It will include household essentials such as toilet roll and toiletries, as well as fresh meat, fish and poultry, frozen items and storecupboard staples, such as tinned tomatoes, and will eventually replace its existing Smart Price budget range.

A spokesperson for Waitrose, which is part of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “We were surprised to hear that Asda is launching an essentials range as the Essential Waitrose brand has been in use since 2009 and has built up a strong reputation for value, quality and higher welfare standards in that time.

“As we’ve also protected the name as a trade mark, we have raised this with Asda and are awaiting a response.”

In response, an Asda spokesperson said: “The word ‘essentials’ is a generic and commonly used term by retailers to describe their value product ranges.”

The cost of groceries is now 5.2 per cent higher than it was a year ago, with inflation in the past four weeks hitting its highest level in nearly a decade, according to new data.

More shoppers are now turning to cheaper products and supermarket own-brand labels in a bid to bring down the cost of their shopping bills, data analytic firm Kantar reports.

The cost of savoury snacks, and dog and cat food are rising fastest.

In January anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe posted a now-viral Twitter thread giving examples of price increases she had noted at her local supermarket in the past year.

Monroe said figures from the Office for National Statistics – which showed the consumer price index measure for inflation had increased from 5.1 per cent in November to 5.4 per cent in December 2021 – “grossly underestimate the real cost of inflation” and what it means for people in poverty.