THE PRICE gap between the main supermarket chains and discount stores is narrowing, but Lidl and Aldi are still more than 20 per cent cheaper for own-brand goods, according to the latest grocery price survey.
The survey by the National Consumer Agency (NCA) shows that competition is increasing, with a widening gap between the three multiples and a reduction in the number of identically priced goods.
Food prices continued to rise since the last survey in August 2008, with grocery prices rising fastest in Tesco, the country’s largest supermarket chain. Yet almost half of all branded goods surveyed were the same price in Dunnes Stores, Tesco and Superquinn.
NCA chief executive Ann Fitzgerald said she expected to see a fall in prices when the next survey was carried out in the summer. Since the first survey in December 2007, Tesco’s prices for branded goods have risen 4.9 per cent, Dunnes’s 3.5 per cent and Superquinn’s 2.8 per cent. For own-brand goods, Tesco’s prices rose 9.3 per cent, compared to 4.7 per cent in Lidl and 3.6 per cent in Aldi.
The cheapest multiples are Dunnes Stores and Superquinn, whose prices were virtually identical for a basket of 83 branded goods. Dunnes charged €292.48 for the basket, Superquinn just 1 cent more, with Tesco lagging behind at €296.08. The results were similar when alcohol was excluded from the basket. “This gap of 1.2 per cent is the biggest variation we have seen between the multiples since we began carrying out the survey,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
Superquinn and Retail Ireland welcomed the findings while Tesco Ireland said changes it was making to its supplier arrangements would be reflected in future surveys.
In the latest survey, 45 per cent of goods had identical prices in Dunnes, Superquinn and Tesco, down from 71 per cent last summer. In contrast, the gap between discounters Lidl and Aldi has narrowed to 1.4 per cent, in Lidl’s favour, from 3.2 per cent last summer. In a comparison of own-brand goods in Lidl, Aldi, Tesco and Dunnes, Lidl emerges as the cheapest, followed by Aldi and Tesco, with Dunnes the most expensive at 21.3 per cent more. The corresponding margin in December 2007 was 56 per cent.
SuperValu was marginally more expensive than Dunnes or Superquinn. Convenience stores once again emerge poorly. A Spar in north Dublin was 27 per cent dearer than Dunnes. Centra stores varied between 3.9 per cent and 21.2 per cent dearer.
The NCA survey was carried out in early January in 13 stores nationally. Special offers were ignored.