Grocery prices have risen in the past year, according to a report by Conor Pope in today’s Irish Times.
Pope points to a report by the National Consumer Agency which shows that prices have risen by five per cent since July 2010, significantly higher than the rate of inflation.
The report also found that little difference in price between the four main retailers and that retailers are more focused on matching, rather than beating, their competitors.
Are you surprised, or does this tally with your experience of shopping?
Thursday 14 July, 2011 at 11:11 am
I posted this on Boards.ie and the comments are that 1) the prices have risen wordlwide (true, above all because we have many imports and the price of fuel has risen too). 2) Trying to bring the price lower to their competitors was leading retailers to sell their goods under the wholesale price.
I agree and don’t: true, war on prices might sometimes bring retailers to loose money, but why spend so much (and so much energy) on trying to prove that you are “as cheap – or expensive – as the one next door”? It also makes the shopping “experience” a nightmare. Last time I was in SQ, there were so many signs I found it very confusing. I just want to see the price / price per kilo (litre, unit, depending on the item). I can see for myself whether the prices are the same as Tesco’s or Dunnes’
Thursday 14 July, 2011 at 12:12 pm
And that’s why for basics we shop in Aldi and supplement it with local grocers/farmers’ offer
Thursday 14 July, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Marta, unfortunately Lidl & Aldi are not particularly good value – I think it may have been true in the past or perhaps they have great PR. I shop in tesco, dunnes, lidl and Aldi and find the prices similar.
Thursday 14 July, 2011 at 1:56 pm
It might be! Our “basket” is definitely cheaper in Aldi though and I find that for the same money we got way better quality of product (like their Specially Selected range), or bigger packs. I guess it depends on what you need to buy – for example, we don’t buy meat, sweets and breads, so it may skew the figures.
Friday 15 July, 2011 at 8:45 am
Aldi is great value on some products (yogurts, cheeses, chocolate, crakers, breads, frozen food), but the staples are the same price across the big stores. Their range is also a bit limited and their fruits and vegs rather poor, so you always need to shop in 2 or 3 different places to do a full shop. I am not a big fan of Lidl, their prices are the same as Tesco or Dunnes and their products are not great. Dunnes has good offers but is boring and offers no great own brand luxury products. SQ has good offers too and is great if you are looking for something top-notch for a special occasion, their range of Irish / continental cheeses is amazing. But you couldn’t do a weekly shop there, they are so expensive. Tesco… I have a love/hate relationship with them, they have the widest range and very good offers, but I don’t like their ethics, and every time I go there for a “quick shop”, I spend 15 minutes extra at the customer service to get refunds on mispriced items.
But all of these are the same when it comes to pricing, with may be the exception of Aldi: if an item goes up in one shop, the others will follow suit, and vice versa. There is no real competition