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There has been a price war on various items in recent days, but one item in particular stands out.
As Nettsvisen wrote last week, the holiday item price war is starting in record time this year. When Nettavisen took a round and checked the prices at discount chains Kiwi, Rema and Extra, we found something surprising.
The price of Gräddost 380 grams of Tine, a Christmas product that is almost always a price war, changed in just 14 hours in Kiwi. The price went from NOK 17.90 on Thursday night, a rather extreme price war price, to NOK 28.40 on Friday morning. Extra also adjusted the price both Thursday through Friday.
This is a very unusual diet. Almost without exception, prices during the Christmas price war have only dropped until Christmas. In reality, this was a 50 percent price increase.
– The normal price for Gräddost is 49.90 kr, but lately this item has dropped in price. There have been some fluctuations in the past few days, but now it costs NOK 17.90 again, Kristine Aakvaag Arvin, Kiwi communications manager, tells Nettavisen two hours after checking the price.
The online newspaper also checked itself, to confirm that the price had dropped again, which it was.
In Rema, the price was 17.90 on Friday morning. In Nettavisen’s experience, there have also been fluctuations in price between them.
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– unusual
Rune Nikolaisen, who is behind Gjerrigknark.com, has a good control of the offers that come in steadily and steadily, reacting to the large fluctuation in the price of Gräddost.
– It is unusual for prices to adjust so much in such a short time, he says.
He points out that prices typically only continue to decline until they hit a trough, before prices rise when the price war ends.
Extra explains the price fluctuation by saying they follow the competition.
– We are in a period where there are tons of price adjustments, including a huge price cut on holiday items last week. At the same time, we watch our competitors to be at least as cheap, says Harald Kristiansen, communications manager at Coop Norge.
He says that Gräddost’s price was adjusted after competitors raised the price again. He also notes that Extra sells Coop Gräddost for NOK 17.90, which he notes is a larger package than the Tine variant.
Also read: Now the Christmas price war is on, and in record time
– slips
Nikolaisen believes that the chains are taking advantage of the price war situation.
– When it is reported that there is a price war, the chains take the opportunity to raise prices again. They know that consumers don’t necessarily know the exact price, but only that an item is cheaper than normal, he says, adding:
– It’s slippery, to put it bluntly!
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You can’t understand why they have to raise the price again so quickly after lowering it.
– They may try to confuse the consumer to earn more money, says Nikolaisen.
He has good advice for other consumers:
– You just have to keep up. Take the opportunity to buy if it is a super offer, but do not empty the shelves so that there is nothing left for other customers, he advises.
– Do not mislead customers
The chains themselves say that they do not intend to deceive customers, but rather that they follow the competition in price.
– I understand that Nikolaisen reacts, but we raised the price after Kiwi adjusted the price, says Kristiansen in Coop.
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– We are also not happy that prices fluctuate, because we want to have prices as fixed and low as possible. In special cases like this, there may be exceptions, but we don’t want prices to fluctuate as much as in this case, says Arvin at Kiwi.
– NOK 17.90 for Gräddost is an “artificially” low price and the result of fierce competition. It will also be a challenge for stores to have enough products when prices drop so low, he says.
Arvin also explains that Gräddost is something many customers buy before Christmas and therefore there is often a price war on this article in the run-up to Christmas.
– We will have the best prices at all times, and of course we are working to be able to give our customers the cheapest shopping basket for Christmas, he says.
The price of large Christmas marzipan in Oslo stores was otherwise normal on Friday morning, and was below 70 crowns. The price of Santa’s Christmas mulled wine was also normal: NOK 39.90. However, the price of powdered sugar is 9.90 in all three chains, so this article is reasonable. Geisha porridge is also cheap, and the price is just under 11 crowns.
So far, the online newspaper has failed to get Rema 1000 comment.
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