Prices slashed by half as electrical retailers fight for sales

The impact of competition from the likes of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer – coupled with rapid advances in technology and a shift in production to China – has seen prices tumble.

Retailers such as Currysdigital, Dixons, Comet and Argos are advertising savings of up to 50 per cent on everything from flat-screen TVs to digital telephones.

According to research by the web bank Egg, the cost of electrical appliances has fallen by just over 50 per cent in the past ten years.

The net effect is that DVD players can now be bought for less than £20 and a basic MP3 player for £5.

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The deals at Comet include 50 per cent off a Morphy Richards bagless upright cleaner, bringing down the price to £99.99.

It has also slashed the cost of a 40in Sony HD-ready LCD TV with integrated Freeview by £700 to £799.99, while a Panasonic digital camera is half-price at £129.99.

The deals at Currys include a Panasonic 32in HD-ready digital LCD TV with digital DVD recorder and stand at £699 – a saving of £360. Meanwhile, a Siemens S455 digital cordless telephone with answer machine has £15 off at £54.99.

Argos's deals include a 32in LG LCD HD-ready TV at a £50 saving of £499.99. A pink Apple iPod shuffle is down from £55 to £49.

The supermarkets are following the trend of the U.S. retail chains, specifically Wal-Mart, which have moved way beyond food sales.

While at one time the supermarkets were limited to little-known manufacturers, they have now struck deals with some of the biggest brands.

Sainsbury's was yesterday offering a Hotpoint WD440 washer-dryer on its website for £297, which is substantially less than Comet's web price of £347 and its in-store price of £379.99. The saving equates to 14.4 per cent on the Comet web price and almost 22 per cent on the High Street price.

Sainsbury's also had a Hotpoint fridge freezer at £339, which is a price cut of £40. The same product in Currys or Dixons is £499.95.

Tesco deals include a Sony 32in HD LCD TV at £649.97. This is £20 less than on Comet's website and a saving of £40 on its store price.

The supermarket is offering a Sony mini hi-fi for £99.97, which it boasts is a saving of £45. The same product on Comet's website is £126.

The scale of the savings available with the supermarkets changes depending on the delivery charges that are applied, however they remain significant.

Deals at Asda range from a third off the price of an Electrolux bagless vacuum cleaner, bringing it down to £57.55, to 19 per cent off a Bosch fridge freezer, taking it to just under £300.

An Egg spokesman said: "Rather than being for the privileged few, the low cost of technology has meant it has increasingly become an essential part of most people's lives.

"Consumers have embraced technology as a lifestyle enabler, using gadgets to organise and control our lives."