Asda extends Smart Price range across all stores in response to food poverty campaign

7th February 2022

Asda will be extending its Smart Price range across the entire store portfolio in response to a food poverty campaign headed up by Jack Monroe last month.

From 1 March, the discount range – which is currently available in just 300 of Asda’s 581 stores – will be available in all Asda stores across the UK. The announcement came after the supermarket took the food poverty campaigner’s comments “on board”, regarding the availability of cheaper food for households struggling to make ends meet.

In a series of tweets published last month, Monroe highlighted the lack of availability of the supermarket chain’s Smart Price products, drawing attention to value ranges being removed from shelves or going up in price.

The tweets focused on the impact of the cost of living crisis on low income households, describing the difficulties faced by households trying to keep their shopping bills as low as possible in the face of rising inflation and food prices. Monroe drilled down into the figures, pointing to big increases in the cost of many low-cost essentials such as rice and pasta.

In response, Asda will also be increasing the Smart Price and Farm Stores value ranges from 150 to 200 products, while also stocking them across all stores. All 200 value products will also be available online by the end of February.

“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,” said chief customer officer Meg Farren.

“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.”

In response to Asda’s move, Monroe tweeted: “Well, that went rather well.”