Global Price Roll Backs: H-E-B and Asda Follow Other Retailers With Price Cuts

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January 12, 2010

Texas-based H.E. Butt is the latest in a string of U.S. grocers to cut prices on store brands and national brands, and across the Atlantic in the U.K. Wal-Mart's Asda subsidiary follows suit.

This week H-E-B lowered prices on more than 5,000 items, a decision that the company said was made last year, "but it takes months to develop a plan for so many stores," said Shelley Parks, spokeswoman for H-E-B, which operates 300 stores in Texas and Mexico.

"It's a large price investment on our part, but a necessary one because we need to take care of our customers," Parks told the Corpus Christie Caller. "We've noticed customer shopping habits have changed in the past year. They're spending less on frills and more on basic items such as paper towels, detergent and produce."

And the price cuts are deep -- a can of tuna and select loaves of H-E-B Bake Shop bread are each rolling back 50 cents, while a 18-pound bag of Purina One dry dog is nearly a dollar less or $1.50 for other pet food varieties, according to the report. The new price initiative is announced on storewide signage and shelf tags.

H-E-B's pricing announcement follows on the heels of Weis Market's price roll back last week and Kroger's price reductions over the past several months.

Meanwhile in the U.K., Asda cut prices on 3,600 essential store brand and national brand products, including potatoes, carrots, grapes, bananas, milk, diapers and cheese, The Independent in London reported.

However, the price cuts, which Asda said average 13 percent, are temporary and will last for a minimum of six to 12 weeks, according to the report.

Price cuts by the UK's second-largest grocer follow announcements made by the country's four largest grocers that they are postponing reintroducing the 17.5 percent value-added-tax (VAT) rate on many non-food products from Jan. 1 forward.

Tesco already unveiled a special price promotion on 12,000 of its products and Sainsbury's reduced prices on more than 3,600 products, according to The Independent.

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