Service makes it easier to compare food prices

Shopping Cart. Forbrukerrådet.no

Service and App makes it easier to compare food prices and content

The Consumer Council has developed a web service that compares what a shopping cart with the most well-known brands costs in the various Norwegian grocery stores.

 

The “Check groceries” (Sjekk dagligvarer)  service allows you to see the total price of a pre-assembled shopping cart in the various stores. Prices are updated every Thursday with average prices based on last weeks prices.

– The grocery market is one of the few markets where the consumer has no information about prices before they are actually in the shop. We will do something about this, says Consumer Director Randi Flesland.

In addition, a separate App – “Peiling” (knowledge) is being launched – which will give consumers a better idea of what the food they eat actually contain. The App is available from both the App Store and Google Play.

The business is critical

– After what we’ve seen, a shopping cart is now available where you do not know the content and with last week’s prices. Examples we have seen do not show campaign prices which are the prices the goods were actually sold for that week, says Coop’s communications director, Bjørn Takle Friis, to Dagens Næringsliv.

Rema’s communications director, Mette Fossum, is unsure whether the service is beneficial for the customer.

– The question is whether this gives openness about price. The intention was to give real-time prices so that you know what the milk costs today, not a week ago, she points out.

Norgesgruppen (Norwegian group) also has objections.

– What we have called for is that the service not only describes prices but also quality. The Consumer Council has a job to do, according to the group’s business policy director Bård Gultvedt.

95 per cent

The standard basket contains 50 to 200 of the 500 to 2,000 best-selling groceries in Norway. Discounts and bonuses are not taken into account. Goods sold in loose weight or perishables are also not included.

All the major food chains are included in the service, which covers 95 per cent of the Norwegian grocery market.

– Annual daily groceries sales constitute more than NOK 150 billion in Norway, and leads to billions in revenues. By providing more knowledge, we want to increase both consumer power and competition, says Flesland.

Quality

The service has been developed on behalf of the Ministry of Children and Equal Rights.

– The goal of the service is for the consumer to get enough information to make conscious choices when shopping for groceries, and find the store that has what they need for the lowest price available, says Solveig Horne (Frp).

Together with the App “Peiling”, «Sjekk dagligvarer» (Check groceries) will allow comparision of price and quality before going to the store.

– There are many who think quality, health and the like when they shop. We have made it easier for them with the app “Peiling” that show content, allergens and marking schemes for Norwegian groceries, says Flesland.

The App makes it possible to search or scan the barcode of an item and thereby find out what it contains. The consumer can even select which nutrients that are to appear at the top of the content declaration.

The App is both free and without advertising.

 

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