Tesco, the UK's largest food retailer, announced it will “reduce the number of branded items in key product areas in its convenience stores as cash-strapped Britons increasingly want cheaper own-brand alternatives,” Reuters reports.

Supermarket group Tesco said the overhaul in its more than 2,000 Express convenience stores will see over 50 key everyday products replaced with cheaper items, many of them Tesco labeled. “Shoppers will find that the own-brand alternatives are, on average, over 40% cheaper than the products they replace,”  the company said in a release.

“Our Express stores offer value on everything from essentials to fresh produce. And while our convenience stores don’t have the shelf space to carry the full range of our larger shops, by swapping these products, we’ve been able to make way for even more of our great-value own-brand ranges,” said Sarah Lawler, Tesco Convenience managing director.

Bags of Tesco frozen garden peas, being stocked in Express store freezers as part of the change, will be almost 40% cheaper than the branded product they are replacing. Tesco basmati rice pouches will fill the space on the shelves left by a branded equivalent costing 30% more, the company said.

Some branded lines, including toothpaste, are being replaced by a cheaper branded alternative at less than a third of the price. And to provide better value for parents, Tesco is reducing the price of some packs of branded diapers in Express stores.

“We know customers are watching every penny at the moment, so we hope these helpful product swaps will bring down food bills for even more families,” said Lawler.

The move comes in response to the supermarket’s internal shopping data, which shows that price-conscious customers are increasingly turning to own-brand products. the company said.

Britons continue to grapple with a cost-of-living crisis stretching into its second year. UK consumers faced grocery inflation in July of 14.9%, according to industry data, and have had to deal with 14 consecutive interest rate increases since December 2021.

In June 2022, NACS Magazine covered the growth of private label offerings in U.S. c-stores. Read “A Private Offer.”