Tesco fights back with price cuts on hundreds of products

Under-pressure supermarket Tesco has launched a fightback by cutting prices on hundreds of its products.

Shoppers will see lower prices on household favourites from brands such as Hovis, Marmite and Coca-Cola as the company tries to win back market share from discount rivals such as Aldi and Lidl.

Tesco said the move meant customers would see an average price fall of 25% on 380 different items.

It comes after Asda yesterday cut the prices of 2,500 "essentials" such as fruit and vegetables, cereal, nappies, toilet rolls, milk, meat, eggs and fish.

Rival Sainsbury's also announced further reductions as part of a £150 million price-cutting plan disclosed in November.

Tesco's chief customer officer Jill Easterbrook said the cuts formed part of a strategy to improve the company's focus on service and availability.

New chief executive Dave Lewis will give more details of his plans for the beleaguered grocer alongside Christmas sales figures today.

His options include a sell-off of Tesco's outposts in Asia and central Europe,as well as non-core brands such as UK download business Blinkbox.