Shop around — or you could pay twice as much
Niamh Hennessy says consumers are still paying hugely different prices for the same products
CONSUMERS who fail to shop around can find themselves forking out double for certain branded grocery items.
This is despite retailers becoming more competitive, according to a survey conducted by the National Consumer Agency.
It found consumers are benefiting from having Aldi and Lidl in the market, with retailers such as Tesco and Dunnes dropping prices to compete. But shoppers are still paying differences of 119% for Fairy washing-up liquid (500ml), with prices ranging from €1.09 in Dunnes and Superquinn to €2.39 in Spar.
Prices for a 420g of Batchelors baked beans ranged from 52c in Spar to 99c in Eurospar — a 90% difference.
Agency chief executive Ann Fitzgerald said multiples are directly competing with Aldi and Lidl on own-brand goods as a result of increased publicity regarding lower prices offered by the discounters.
The survey found a lack of competition among the country’s larger stores, with a price difference of just 0.3% in a basket of 72 own-brand goods at Tesco, Dunnes and Superquinn.
The survey also found prices have dropped from June to August across all own-brand retailers.
The outlets surveyed were Dunnes Stores, Superquinn, Tesco, Supervalu, Spar, Centra, Eurospar, Aldi and Lidl. Comparing Aldi, Lidl, Tesco and Dunnes Stores, there was a price differential of 59.3% between the cheapest and most expensive outlets on a basket of 19 items in December 2007. This had dropped to 33.9% in August on a basket of 34 items.
“While the multiples have increased the number of special offers and promotions over recent months, we are not seeing a long-term drop in the prices of the staple branded goods in our basket across any of the retailers,” said Ms Fitzgerald.
“We would urge consumers to exercise caution when taking advantage of special offers as they can often be for discretionary goods, rather than the staples that make up the weekly shop. Our advice is to draw up a shopping list and not be unduly swayed by special offers.”
Consumers received an extra boost yesterday with figures revealing a drop in the rate of inflation to 4.3% last month.
Inflation slowed to a seven-month low in August, dropping from 4.4% in July as a result of falling oil prices and rents.
Rents fell by 2.9%, while restaurant and hotel prices fell by 0.2%, the largest fall since the monthly series began in 1997.
The drop has resulted in Ulster Bank predicting the rate to fall to 2.5% by the end of next year.
