the ad campaign aldi never paid for is running in tesco

Since 2020, all four of Britain's traditional big supermarkets have launched price-match schemes against Aldi, two of them literally named Aldi Price Match. These schemes track Aldi's prices, updated twice weekly in some cases, and were extended by Tesco to more than 2,000 Express stores in April 2026. By the rivals' own published rules, every Aldi price cut on a matched essential is passed on to shoppers in stores Aldi does not own. This means Aldi's price list now functions as a private price cap on hundreds of everyday essentials across most of British grocery retail. Millions of households collect an Aldi saving without ever entering an Aldi. Julie Ashfield, Chief Commercial Officer at Aldi UK, said: "For years, our rivals have effectively been running an ad campaign for us, printing our name on their shelves and passing on our price cuts. What's become clear is that Aldi's price list now functions as a private price cap on hundreds of everyday essentials across most of British grocery retail. Millions of households are collecting an Aldi saving without ever entering an Aldi, and it's time that was said plainly." Tesco introduced Aldi Price Match in 2020, printing Aldi's name on its own shelf-edge labels. Sainsbury's followed with its own Aldi Price Match in 2021. In January 2024, Asda became the first to match both Aldi and Lidl, across 287 everyday items, and Morrisons launched its own Aldi and Lidl match on more than 200 essentials in February 2024, per Grocery Gazette's survey of the schemes. Tesco and Sainsbury's both trimmed their schemes in early 2025, with Tesco cutting more than 100 items, per Retail Gazette. On 29 April 2026, Tesco reversed direction, extending Aldi Price Match to more than 2,000 Express convenience stores covering over 200 products, the scheme's biggest expansion since launch. Ashwin Prasad, Tesco UK's chief executive, said the extension gives customers "confidence that they can get great prices on everyday products at Tesco, whether that's in our large stores, online or in more than 2,000 of our local convenience stores." Aldi is named in all four rivals' schemes; no other supermarket is named in any of them, with Lidl named in two. Aldi's only direct answer came in May 2024 with its Can't Match This television campaign. Jemma Townsend, then one of Aldi's marketing directors, said at the time: "Competitors promoting a small number of items will never give customers the full benefits of an Aldi priced shop."