Discount Retail Chain Lidl Netherlands (owned by the German Schwarz Gruppe) private label brand products are the cheapest, according to a new price radar poll by the 'Consumenten bond'. However, the price difference between budget brands at 'regular' and 'discount' supermarkets is decreasing: Dirk and Vomar have already caught up with discounter Aldi.(See her more on DRC's own private label development service)
It is increasingly worthwhile to get down in the supermarket and choose the private label variant. Those who put bottles of soft drinks, cartons of flour and sugar and tea in their shopping cart of the private label are now on average almost half cheaper, according to the Dutch 'Consumentenbond'. To be precise: 45 percent. Five years earlier, the difference with A-brands was still 24 percent.
Anyone looking for an even lower amount on the receipt is a bacon buyer at Lidl. It has the cheapest private label products, according to a price poll published by the union today. This is a 10 percent difference with the average prices for private labels.
The supermarket chains Dirk and Vomar are almost equally cheap: the price is 9 percent lower than average. It is striking that Aldi is number four in the list with its own private label brands, while that concern always led the way with Lidl when it came to the smallest prices for private labels. Aldi therefore loses out to Dirk and Vomar when it comes to private labels.
Secret mission
The poll is always a secret mission: the Consumentenbond never announces the moment of the investigation. The reason: supermarkets that would like to stunt because of the poll do not get a chance to do so. By not revealing the shop date, the research is as fair as possible, or so the idea goes.
Hunting for cheap groceries is not superfluous: GfK reported on this site last week that groceries have become more expensive in the past year. We pay an average of 3 to 4 percent more at the till than a year ago. Fresh products such as meat and meat products, salads and bread in particular have increased significantly in price, according to GfK, with peaks of 9 percent. Alcohol, animal feed and cut flowers have also become more expensive.
In the poll, the Consumentenbond looked at 145 articles such as cola, coffee, milk, rice and pasta. Some supermarkets also have budget variants in addition to the private label, but these have not been included in the survey, because they are not the first alternative to A brands.
It is particularly striking that 'normal' supermarkets such as Dirk and Vomar have entered into battle with Lidl and Aldi. With success, because Dirk and Vomar have overtaken Aldi. The supermarkets are crawling together: Lidl is now 10 percent cheaper, two years ago it was 15 percent and two years earlier it was 21 percent. The most expensive supermarkets to shop for private labels are Poiesz (plus 17 percent) and Spar (14 percent).
One nuance is, according to the Consumentenbond is that: there are local differences when it comes to Jumbo, Hoogvliet and Picnic. Those three supermarket chains adjust their prices to the competition. Simply put: if a Jumbo is located near a Dirk, the prices are lower and the Jumbo branch is close to a Spar, the prices are higher.
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