Sainsbury and Asda to merge

LadyDee

Our local Sainsburys is rubbish - it's shabby, grubby, staff hanging around chatting. Once or twice in the last year or so I've been tempted in by a special offer. Right in the centre of town and virtually inaccessible - parking charges horrendous.

Tescos near me is expensive, packed with racks of clothes since their home store closed, and a mess. All I ever buy there is petrol as it's the cheapest, and the occasional bottle of milk.

Nearest Asda is 13 miles away.

Morrisons isn't bad, very limited parking, and limited stock as it's quite small. 3 miles

Aldi is a mess, very limited parking. 4 miles

Best of all is the nearest Lidls - a bit of a distance (9 miles) but the fruit and veg is lovely and fresh, the shop is spotless, huge variety of food and very important, invariably saves me ££££s! Oh, and their wine's not bad either!

So glad I don't have to rely on either Sainsburys or Asda, but this could prove disastrous for those who will have no choice. Where they currently exist locally in competition they have to keep prices down, but there can be little doubt this won't be the case if this merger goes through.

chris_m

jack_pott wrote: »

Tesco rule the roost here. Within a 1.5 mile radius we have Lidl, M&S, Sainsbury's, and four Tescos. Nearest Asda is about 6 miles.

Tesco definitely rule it here - all we have is a medium size Tesco and a Co-Op. Anyone else is over 25 miles away.

panagia

Our nearest large supermarket is 4 miles away is both directions. ASDA one way and Sainsburys the other. The merge is surprising, given that they're at opposite ends of the spectrum as regards their clientele.

Waitrose is my favourite supermarket. I hope they manage to stay.

panagia

chris_m wrote: »

Tesco definitely rule it here - all we have is a medium size Tesco and a Co-Op. Anyone else is over 25 miles away.

We have a small Co-Op round the corner. They're pretty useless, unless you want crisps, processed ready-meals and alcohol!

Mrs_Arcanum

panagia wrote: »

We have a small Co-Op round the corner. They're pretty useless, unless you want crisps, processed ready-meals and alcohol!

Within 6 miles we have: -

• Waitrose
  Co-Op
  M&S
  Sainsburys
  Lidl
  Morrisons
  Asda
  Aldi

And several small Tescos, Co-ops and a Budgens is due soon.

Doom_and_Gloom

fabsaver wrote: »

Doesn't make any sense to me either.

Sainsbury customers won't be happy. Asda customers won't be happy. Result? They go to Tesco instead.

Nope I won't be going to Tesco, hate the place.
Not shopped in Asda for years, got too angry at the way a lot of the people acted and to be honest the fruit and veg was never the best and I basically live on the stuff. Their own and smart price products were also poor quality for the majority.
The fruit and veg in Sainsbury is better quality, has more taste and in general lasts longer than what Asda produce ever did. If this merger goes through the quality of produce better not decline. The own and even basic products aren't horrible either. My husband certainly prefers the basic and own brand of Sainsburys against the same product from Asda (he thought the Asda soup was very metallic tasting and couldn't bring himself to finish it!).

If the quality took a dive we'd have to order from Waitrose and while it isn't as expensive as people make it out to be, it would mean our food budget would go up noticeably.

worldtraveller

Sainsbury's has confirmed plans to merge with Asda, currently owned by US supermarket giant Walmart.

The combination of the UK's second and third largest supermarkets would create a giant, representing nearly £1 in every £3 spent on groceries.

Given the size of the two supermarkets, the merger will have to be approved by Competition and Markets Authority.

Latest figures show Tesco has a 25% grocery market share, while Sainsbury's has 13.8% and Asda has 12.9%.

BBC News

vivatifosi

Sky is reporting that Sainsbury will be the big partner in this, with Wal-Mart owning not more than 29% of the joint company.

They were also speculating that this is more about buying power and rationalizing head offices than changing either Sainsbury or Asda.

There's also the potential to put the Argos mini stores into Asda, which could work quite well.

JasonLVC

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

And four, it's perceived as being expensive, so you're spared swarms of screaming mums hurling mini pizzas into trolleys and wanting to know where the Sunny Delight is.

Not sure which is worse, having to avoid the chavs swearing at their kids in the middle of the supermarket/hurling mini pizzas into the trolley in Asda or the total arrogance and plain rudeness of Waitrose customers who think they are rich and special because they've got a Range Rover Autograph edition and buy all their shopping at Waitrose and NEVER say excuse me or thank you when they lean over you to take something from the shelf area you are standing at.

Ocado all the way for me, don't have to interact with society other than fleetingly when the delivery guy turns up.

JasonLVC

vivatifosi wrote: »

There's also the potential to put the Argos mini stores into Asda, which could work quite well.

It was a good idea having an Argos inside a supermarket but always found it an odd mix to have Sainsburys hosting Argos shops - entirely different client sector in my mind.

It'd be like Waitrose having a Poundland concession in store.