Supermarket Price Comparison Ireland
The National Consumer Agency carries out two price comparison surveys in Ireland every year – which are fairly detailed but are probably out of date as soon as they are done. The most recent NCA Grocery price comparison was carried out in July 2010 – we had a look at some of the results……….
Basically – the price comparison found that there is very little difference in prices on the selected branded products in the 3 major supermarkets.
On a basket of 103 items the total price was virtually identical in Dunnes Stores (€279.62) Tesco (€280.69) and Superquinn ( 280.76) . That is only a difference of €1.14 between the dearest and the cheapest. So – it looks like it doesn’t really pay to shop around in Ireland (not on brand name products anyway.)
A price comparison of a basket of 87 items – which included 2 Supervalu stores showed the chepaest was Dunnes (€235.95) followed by Superquinn (€236.62) and Tesco (€236.74). The difference between the top 3 supermarkets was only 79 cents.
Supervalu came out as most expensive at €241.70)
Now – this similarity in pricing could be down to the fact that the stores probably have a very good idea which products will be in the comparison – so they all can ensure that the prices are as low as the competition. The same products are surveyed each time and the surveys are done in the same months each year.
More Price Comparisns
The Afternoon Show on RTE did a “Trolley Watch” in September 2009 – where they compared prices in Lidl, Dunnes, Tesco , Aldi, Superquinn and Supervalu. They basically had a shopping list and picked the cheapest product in each supermarket.
The survey only covered a basket 20 items – so it was fairly limited. In all four price checks they did – Tesco was the cheapest every time.
Another recent supermarket price comparison survey by the National Consumer Agency on over-the-counter medicines and personal care goods was carried out in September 2009.
A basket of 25 items was compared across Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Superquinn and SuperValu. The cost of this basket was cheapest in Tesco at €80.85 and dearest in Superquinn at €95.65. Dunnes Stores came in second place for value at €83.52 a basket, while SuperValu was third at €90.65.
Only Tesco and Superquinn offer online grocery shopping in Ireland .
References :
NCA July 2010 Survey
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/News_+_Research/Press%20Releases/grocery-price-survey-aug2010.html
RTE Tolley Watch Results 1 ,2 ,3 4
NCA Personal Care Survey
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/News_+_Research/Press%20Releases/NCA_price_survey_of_personal_care_items_and_medicines.html