Launched at the end of August last year, Brand Match compares its prices of top-selling brand products with prices in other supermarkets. When a PnP customer buys 10 or more different products, and at least one is in the Brand Match thousand, it triggers an instant price comparison at the till. If the total of their Brand Match products would have cost less elsewhere, the customer instantly receives a cash-off coupon worth that amount for his next shop.
When it was launched, Brand Match compared the prices of 1,000 branded products. That will now double to 2,000 products with immediate effect, giving customers even more confidence that, by shopping at PnP, they will never pay more for these products.
CEO Richard Brasher said: "Brand Match has been a great success with our customers. It has made shopping simpler and more reassuring for them. They no longer have to shop around for the best prices on a basket of top-selling products, because if we are more expensive on those products we will issue them with a voucher for the difference for their next shop.
"Recognising the success of the scheme and its importance to customers, we are now doubling the number of products covered by Brand Match. So customers will have even less reason to shop around and even more reason to shop at PnP.
"Brand Match has strengthened customer confidence in just how competitive our prices are. Most shopping baskets turn out to be cheaper, or the same price, at PnP than at competitor stores. When customers do get a coupon from us, it is usually for a small amount.
"The first 1,000 products included in Brand Match represented nearly half of all sales of branded grocery items at PnP. Taking the programme up to 2,000 items means we will now be covering well over 50% of all sales of branded grocery items."
Brasher added: "Together with Smart Shopper, we are giving our customers real value at a time when they are facing sustained pressure from rising electricity and other utility costs, higher interest rates, increases in taxes and pressure on prices from a weakening rand.
"Smart Shopper is set to reach 10 million members this year, against our original target of 3 million. Last year, we improved Smart Shopper by introducing personalised vouchers, of which 3.4 million were redeemed. Customers are really beginning to appreciate the value we're giving them.
PnP uses two independent research companies to collect prices countrywide on a weekly basis. These independent research companies ensure that Brand Match is conducted accurately and professionally.
