Cost of average shopping basket falls 15% as consumers drive prices down

THE price of an average grocery basket has fallen by up to 15% over the past six months as bargain-hunters continue to drive down prices.

Three-quarters of people are going from shop to shop looking for the cheapest goods, while a quarter of those have slashed their bills by cutting shopping lists.

The latest results of the NCA’s biannual survey of grocery prices show there is now little difference in the price of a typical shopping basket between the two leading supermarket groups, Tesco and Dunnes Stores.

Lidl emerged the cheapest in a survey of own brand items with a basket of 22 goods costing €22.89 compared with €31.52 in Dunnes, a 38% difference.

The survey also highlighted how SuperValu and Centra outlets in border areas are also close to matching the prices of their larger competitors due to their “Sterling Match” campaign.

The NCA survey shows the price of the same basket of goods has fallen by 15% or €18.28 in Tesco since the start of the year. It has fallen by €16.49 (14%) in Dunnes and €9.49 (8%) in Superquinn as the price war between the various chains intensified.

NCA chief executive Ann Fitzgerald said two types of Tesco stores were included in the cost comparisons, as the British supermarket giant is lowering prices on a gradual basis across a wide range of products as part of its “Change for Good” campaign across its outlets nationwide.

According to the survey, a basket of 68 common branded goods cost €214.99 in Dunnes Stores and €215.11 in Tesco stores which had already introduced its “Change for Good” promotion. The same basket cost €223.53 in Superquinn and €229.77 in older Tesco outlets.

Excluding the latter, the difference between the cheapest and dearest is €8.54 which means consumers could save 4% of their grocery bill by switching outlets. The gap was just 1.2% in a similar survey last year.

Ms Fitzgerald said the price gap between the cheapest and dearest basket was the biggest since NCA surveys began in 2007 and implied there was increased competition in the sector.

However, 46% of goods still had identical prices in Dunnes, Tesco and Superquinn, although the figure stood at 71% just 12 months ago.

A separate survey of the cost of a basket of 21 items in 12 different outlets including convenience stores showed Dunnes Stores the cheapest at €85.12 and Spar the most expensive at €104.89 — a difference of over 23%.

The research also showed that the gap between the price of own brand labels in Tesco and Dunnes Stores has increased significantly so far this year, while it has narrowed in the battle between German discount rivals, Aldi and Lidl.

“Whilst the results of the survey are clearly good news for shoppers, it remains the case that the best value is to be found by astutely splitting the basket between the various retailers,” said Ms Fitzgerald.

Although she welcomed the recent price reductions for groceries, Ms Fitzgerald stressed that the NCA did not accept any argument by supermarkets for the lengthy delays in bring about such cost-cutting measures.

Ms Fitzgerald said shoppers could get further value by continuing to shop around. However, she said consumers would have to decide for themselves if it was still cheaper to shop in the North.

The NCA chief executive said the latest reductions seemed to have been driven by Tesco cutting out the Irish distributor of overseas brands and bringing in more Britain-sourced product lines.

She also announced that the NCA had recently approached the main supermarket groups to provide information on their prices which would be included on a proposed new website to be hosted by the NCA which would allow consumers to compare the cost of groceries.

She claimed a similar website in Britain was warmly received by shoppers.