Morrisons cuts prices of over 1,000 ‘everyday essentials’

The reduction will apply to 1,072 items in total, including shampoo and toilet paper

Morrisons trialed the scheme in stores across the northeast (Getty)

Morrisons is to cut prices on more than 1,000 products in an bid to attract customers in the heated supermarket price war.

The Bradford-based supermarket will cut prices on products including fresh food, with products such as fruit and vegetables reduced by an average of 19 per cent.

The reduction will apply to 1,072 items in total, including shampoo and toilet paper, the supermarket said on Monday.

(Morrisons)

Morrisons, the UK’s fourth biggest supermarket chain, is also launching Price Crunch, a rolling programme of price cuts expected to last for at least three months on top of earlier reductions.

Customers are expected to save more than £5 on a basket filled with everyday essentials such as potatoes, eggs, toilet paper and milk.

David Potts, chief executive, said Morrisons wants to become more competitive.

“We are cutting the prices of products that customers will welcome being cheaper at Morrisons and we are cutting every penny we can,” Potts said.

“We continue to listen carefully to customers and they have told us they want lower prices, particularly on fresh food and everyday essentials,” he added.

Tesco, Sainbury’s, Asda and Morrisons have struggled to compete with German discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl.

The ongoing price war has seen supermarket prices fall for more than the last year.

Shares in Morrisons, which have had their high street futures questioned in recent years, soared as higher sales defied fears that rivals would push them closer to the brink.

The supermarket boosted its performance for the first time in four years. Potts put improved results down to store promotions, fewer multi-buy deals and improved pricing.

Like-for-like sales were up 0.2 per cent in the nine weeks to 3 January – although 0.9 per cent of the rise came from Morrisons’ online operation.