Tesco-Asda Price War - How low can they go?

Tesco and Asda are probably the biggest supermarket players in the UK right about now. They have always rivalled each other with competitive pricing but over the years they have slowly but surely been getting a little bit more ‘direct’ with their advertising. It’s like two ladies just bitching about each other with the side comment before eventually becoming face to face and that's when the real fireworks start setting off.

I’ve never really kept track of the on-going rivalry or even taken an interest until I opened up The Sun and found Tesco’s latest ad saying “The Asda Price Guarantee? We think it’s bananas crackers or even nuts. Not to mention bread cheese potatoes milk eggs loo roll bin bags or even Lady Gaga.” This was accompanied with pictures and prices lower in comparison to Asda. (Image will be added soon).

So let's have a look at the humble beginnings of the pricing comparison fiasco.

Asda rolls up their sleeves and takes a huge swipe at all their rivals in one-go while making Tesco look the least price friendly. Bear in mind that this advert was banned for being misleading. Hit or miss?

Tesco makes this personal, singles out Asda as their main competitor and declares war. Message received although Asda was quick to run to daddy a.k.a Advertising Standards Agency and it is Tesco's turn to get a telling off for misleading advertising. An eye for an eye.

What an interesting approach. Played it simple with a short word-stab with "No clubcards", cheeky but many would have accepted message as Asda saying they don't want to play games and would rather let the prices do the talking. Nicely played.

I don't know but I'm struggling to see if this advert actually appeals to shoppers at all. It seems Tesco wanted to be creative but ended up being statistical and boring with this weak contribution to the price comparison war. Pie Charts next time?

I can go on forever but I unfortunately lack the resources to collect all the adverts and put them into chronological order. I will surely update you with the latest adverts as these titans go all out but this game of chess has become tedious when concerning regular shoppers. Price comparison has been outdated and supermarkets are overdosing, Asda's price guarantee has been done before but at least they have reduced the number count. Tesco's current  ad statements slating the price guarantee can be labelled as childish while at the same time Sainsburys wins supermarket retailer of the festive season taking huge chunks of the market share. I guess it is not all about the prices lads.

How did Apple Do it?

Today, I was browsing the metro newspaper then I came across the ‘iPad’ priced at £500 or more. I started to crave it for no apparent reason, a device which would serve no real purpose in my life. Then I started thinking “how did apple do it?” create another masterpiece after the iPod and iPhone while making it as desirable as its predecessors.

The Big Questions

With the iPod and iPhone there was already markets for the products to enter but the same couldn’t be said about the iPad? Apple’s next challenge was to create a market for their new creation. But to make a totally new market you need to identify a need and offer a solution. This led to the next big question, what is the iPad for?  What does it do that the iPhone can’t already do? People would say that it was just a bigger version of an iPhone, so is there any point getting it if you already own an iPhone?

A market is created at the cost of others

The iPad was launched and we were all amazed. In awe of the multi-touch capabilities, how the fingers zoomed in and out of text, switched from page to page with ease, this device made everything seem so simple. It may not have sold as many as expected but it succeeded in creating a new craze, a new market. Since then newspapers have rushed to make their publishing digital, e-books have been revolutionised. Give it a few more years before the iPad’s and the PC Tablets alternatives could maybe outdate the net books and e-readers at the same time. Apple may not have sold as many as they predicted but the benchmark has been set and all the rest shall follow.

Design prevails over all

Now I shall attempt to answer the original question. Apple produced another innovative product and made it a desirable through design. From the design of the product to the interface to the multi-touch functionality, PC tablets have been around forever but it was when Apple re-designed them that the world discovered them. If they were to give a name to this style of designing I would call it convenience. Everything inch of an ‘I’ product is made at the convenience of the user, with the iPod it was the scroll wheel then with the iPhone it was the ‘double tap’ to zoom in on text. Finally the iPad brought a whole new light on digital publishing with the way a simple touch can spring life into the pages of the e-book, making the latest e-readers look tacky. Once again design prevails over all other factors.

New competitor, new blackberry hype?

So a new market has been found, will this new innovation keep hold of the market like the others or will a worthy challenger be found? Samsung Galaxy Tab is already gaining market share quickly with it’s competitive pricing, Windows and Android are playing catch up and now even the Blackberry Playbook is about to be launched. I feel this has the potential to do as well as the blackberry smart phones which have been competing with the iPhone. Could this be the new blackberry hype? The iPad lacks Flash, USB and SD card slots, the Playbook doesn’t. The BB brought a new innovation to the game with the BBPin, I believe they can once again bring something new to the table in the world of PC Tablets.

References:

The iPad

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iPad-3G-WiFi-64GB/dp/B003P5AOBW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294264327&sr=8-2

Apple iPad to be released

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/20/apple-tablet-reader-launch

Blackberry Playbook

http://us.blackberry.com/playbook-tablet/