The clue is in the name: the "brand guarantee" offer only applies to branded products.
The "brand guarantee" scheme means that customers will get the different deducted off their bill if it would have been cheaper at a rival supermarket.
For its part, Tesco said its Brand Guarantee offered an immediate price match at the tills, without the need for paper coupons.
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On the face of it, Tesco's new brand guarantee, launched on Monday, looks like a good idea – prices are matched against Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, and the discount applied immediately at the checkout.
But this brand guarantee looks like a massive step backward to a scheme more akin to five years ago when the Phil Clarkes and Justin Kings of this world thought the discounters were mere irritants that would be wiped out faster than they began.
Under the new Brand Guarantee scheme customers will only get money back if branded goods such as Heinz baked beans or Cadbury's chocolate could have been bought at lower prices from its three major rivals.
Matt Davies, Tesco's UK chief executive, said: "This is a little help for Sainsbury's customers from us at Tesco … It also provides the opportunity for Sainsbury's customers to experience Tesco's Brand Guarantee, which we launched in October and has been universally welcomed by our customers".
Nick Bubb, retail analyst, said: "There is a lot of smoke and mirrors about most supermarket price-cutting campaigns, but the new Tesco Brand Guarantee scheme could be a gamechanger for the industry, as it does away with money-off coupons in favour of an instant discount at the till, and it will be interesting to see how Sainsbury's etc respond".
Bubb said that the fact Tesco had not announced the new promotion in a stock market statement suggested the cost of Brand Guarantee will not be material or that the company will offset the costs by putting up the price of own-label products.
