Grocery Exchange, Supermarkets | Food price test:

On Monday this week, Kiwi cut the prices of 130 items, between 10 and 35 percent. This is its third major price cut since April. Both Rema 1000 and Extra followed suit, saying they cut prices to be as cheap as the competition.

It also results in the Nettavisen price test, conducted by Enhver.no, this week. We have focused on orders, something that is happening a lot now that school has started again. However, it doesn’t matter which store you shop at, if you choose a discount chain.

Kiwi, Rema and Extra are in the ear equal in the total sum in the shopping cart with 34 items.

– It’s unusual and boring. That means that two-thirds of the food market is the same price and we have lost price competition, says Tom Ystaas, price manager at Enhver.no.

Also read: Rocket growth for the supermarket giant

– Et problem

When price doesn’t matter, there are other parameters, such as location and selection, that determine where people choose to buy. Food is one of the biggest expenses we have, and then it is important that the chains push prices.

– It is a serious problem if there is no price competition, says Ystaas.

Because even though Kiwi is running a great campaign, where prices are falling, there is no competition in the grocery market when the other low-price chains just follow suit.

– There will be a price competition only when they push each other on price. Here it is Kiwi who pushes, and then the others lie down exactly the same, he explains.

Read also: Races against the labeling of imported meats: – This should not be allowed

Although consumers get slightly lower prices during promotional periods, this does not necessarily mean affordable products. This is because prices have risen a lot this year. The increased trade in the grocery industry after the crown crisis was also a fact in Norway, it has led to a huge growth in the income of the chains.

– Kiwifruit has increased their margins lately and made a lot of money, which gives them a chance to boost prices now, says Ystaas.

Kiwi has also confirmed to Nettavisen previously that they have the opportunity to run campaigns precisely because they have increased turnover due to increased trade during the crown crisis.

Also read: If you choose these items, you can save more than 5000 crowns in one year (+)

Here you lose more

Ystaas believes there is no question where to buy this week. Especially if you have children and there are many orders at home. There is a fairly large gap between the discount chains and the Meny and Spar supermarkets.

– The menu sets the price of the shopping cart at ten percent more. It’s NOK 108.80 more expensive to buy from Meny than low-priced chains, Ystaas says.

A hundred dollars in a shopping cart with products for just over a thousand crowns may not sound like much. But if you pay an extra 100 kronor for food in one store, compared to another, every week for a year, it will be a little over 5,000 kroner.

Although Meny fares worse in this week’s test, Ystaas notes, however, that the chain sometimes has some good deals when they run a ten-kroner market.

Also read: Food price test: These are the items you should not buy on the tikronersmarket

By the way, Spar is only four kroner below Meny, while Obs by comparison is 72 kroner cheaper than this week’s price losses.

– Press prices every week

Harald Kristiansen, communications manager at Coop Norge, believes that competition between low-price chains works well.

– No one can afford a higher price than the competitors. We follow each other, and therefore the competition is much more than just price, he says.

He explains that it’s important for his customers to find everything they need in a store, something Coop believes Extra stores offer.

– When Kiwi or other competitors start a price campaign, why don’t they push prices more?

– Extra pushes prices every week. Chains run multiple campaigns, and Extra has a 25 percent discount on fresh fish and a 30 percent discount on tacos this week, and thus is helping to lower the price of these products this week, while we have continued to the competition in other products.

He points out that the competition between chains is so fierce that it is not possible to have lower prices than competitors for many hours, even if only for a few minutes.

– I understand that for outsiders it does not seem like a price competition, but I can promise that it is, says Kristiansen.