The retailer had the cheapest online basket of popular branded items on average last year, according to analysis by Which?

The consumer group looked at the cost of 77 products across the year including Andrex toilet roll, Cathedral City cheddar cheese, Hovis bread and PG Tips tea bags. It found the basket of items in an online shop cost less at Morrisons than at Asda, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco or Waitrose, coming in at £156.46.

The same basket cost an average of £170.79 at Waitrose, making it the most expensive online supermarket for the third year in a row.

Based on the average cost of a basket, shopping the same basket of items once a month at Morrisons instead of Waitrose over the course of a year would save you £171.96 – enough to pay for the cost of the average Waitrose basket, with some change to spare.

Online-only supermarket Ocado took second place for the most expensive basket, coming in at £169.86 on average.

Asda just missed out on the cheapest spot, with an average basket costing just £1.53 more than Morrisons, at £157.99.

Harry Rose, editor of Which? magazine, said: “Many of us will be looking to save money following the festive season, so shoppers will be pleased to know that they don’t have to pay over the odds for their favourite brands – all they need to do is shop smarter.

“To save even more on your online shop, you could consider substituting branded items for own-label products, and if your supermarket has a price promise, hold them to it. If your basket would cost less elsewhere, they should refund you the difference.”

Discount retailers Aldi and Lidl were not included in the research because they have no online presence.  Iceland was not been included as it does not stock enough branded products for a fair comparison.