NCA price survey shows 'evidence of growing competition'

While there is still very little difference in the price of a basket of branded products across the Republic’s main supermarket chains, the gap between the cheapest and the dearest has widened marginally, according to the latest grocery price survey published by the National Consumer Agency this morning.

The survey also shows that the gap between own-brand products in the big four supermarkets, Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Superquinn and Supervalu and the German discount stores Lidl and Aldi, although still significant, has narrowed since the agency’s last survey in August of last year.

When comparing a basket of branded goods between Dunnes Stores, Superquinn and Tesco, the difference between the cheapest and dearest basket was €3.60 or 1.2 per cent. In Dunnes Stores the cost of the basket was €292.48 while in Superquinn the same basket cost just one cent more. Tesco was the most expensive and the groceries had a price tag of €296.08.

A total of 37 out of 83 goods had identical prices across all three stores. The percentage of identically priced goods is declining – in August 2008 the number of goods which were priced identically was 58 per cent while in June of last year it was 71 per cent. Today’s study shows the percentage of goods with identical prices is 45 per cent.

The NCA’s chief executive Ann Fitzgerald said the drop in the number of branded goods with identical pricing was “evidence of growing competition amongst the multiples, as they begin to compete not just with the discount retailers but aggressively between themselves.”

She also said that the gap of 1.2 per cent, the biggest variation seen between the multiples since the agency began carrying out grocery price surveys in 2007, “suggests some repositioning in the market”.

Between December 2007 and January 2009, aggregate prices in Tesco, Dunnes and Superquinn all increased with Tesco recording the largest increase at 4.9 per cent. Superquinn was found to have had the smallest increase of 2.8 per cent while Dunnes Stores recorded an increase of 3.5 per cent.

When it comes to own brand goods, the gap between Dunnes and Tesco and Aldi and Lidl has narrowed significantly, the survey has found.

A basket of 28 common items is cheapest in Lidl outlets - €35.01 – while in Dunnes Stores an almsot idenical basket cost €42.20, a difference of 20.5 per cent.

The price differential between the cheapest and dearest last August was 35.9 per cent.

Competition has also intensified between the German discounters and on a basket of 49 similar items, there is now a price difference of 0.1 per cent - or 4 cents - between Aldi and Lidl compared with a difference of €2.27 or 3.2 per cent on a basket of 50 items in August 2008.