• Financial Times, Thursday, July 2, 2009 10:39 AM

Men and women shoppers alike are facing a "cacophony of price-cutting promotions" from supermarket chains competing against Wal-Mart supercenters and other discounters, reports Jonathan Birchall. In fact, AMR Research analyst Mike Griswold says that supermarkets are "fighting fully fledged price wars" with each other in some markets.

Food price deflation driven by lower commodity costs for staples such as milk and chicken is also putting pressure on supermarkets to cut prices, as are consumer expectations. And Griswold says that evidence suggests that shoppers are increasingly "cherry-picking" the low-priced promotions.

Kroger, the largest supermarket group by sales, has been rolling out a "new lower prices" campaign. Rival Supervalu recently announced a profit warning while launching a "big relief price cut" campaign. And regional chains such as Stater Brothers in California, Food Lion on the East Coast and Giant Eagle in the Midwest are also adding their voices to the noise.

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