Two soaps from Neutral look like glue, but the shower soap is far more expensive than the hand soap.
While hand soap costs NOK 16.20 on Meny, the price for shower soap is NOK 37.30 at the same store. There is also a big price difference at Oda.no. Hand soap costs NOK 15.40, while shower soap costs NOK 37.20. Both products have 250 milliliters of soap, and the list of ingredients is exactly the same.
In other words: a 130 per cent price difference at Meny, and a full 141.5 per cent difference between hand soap and shower soap at Oda.
– If it is the same content, I must say that I am shocked, says Rune Nikolaisen, who is behind Gjerrigknark.com, to Nettavisen.
– I think most people will think that there is something else in the shower soap. If there is no difference, then there are some who try to cheat extra money out of the consumer, he says.
Also read: Over four times as expensive for the same item: – Absolutely amazing what the stores are trying on
– Do pretty much the same thing
Einar Uggerud, professor and head of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oslo, says that the mixing ratio can be different even if the ingredients are the same.
– A shower gel and hand soap do pretty much the same thing. But chemically speaking, it may be that slightly different oils and perfumes have been used in a shower soap than in a hand soap, which can help to give a special quality to the product, he says to Nettavisen.
He explains that very small amounts of another ingredient may have been used in one product which is not in the other, but which makes a small difference. This does not necessarily have to be listed in the table of contents.
– But the soaps sold in Norway today are quite similar to each other, because there are not many things to play on, he says.
Will not answer
The online newspaper has been in contact with general manager Camilla Cappelen Mazzocchini in Unilever Norway, which produces Neutral.
She has not answered Nettavisen’s questions about it really is a difference between Neutral shower gel and hand soap, and possibly what the difference is.
Mazzocchini has also not responded directly to how different the soaps really are, if it is true that there is a different mixing ratio in the two soaps – despite the fact that the ingredients listed are the same and are in the same order.
– The ingredient lists show the ingredients mentioned in descending order, but the percentage of each ingredient may vary from product to product. So even though the ingredient lists for two products are identical, the amount of ingredients can vary between these two products, she writes in an e-mail to Nettavisen.
– For competitive reasons, we in principle never share details about ingredient percentages for any of our products. Our products are designed for the use they are sold for, and we recommend that they are used for the purpose for which they are designed, she says.
Mazzocchini also points out that they, as a manufacturer and supplier, have no influence on the sales price on store shelves, since the retailers – ie the stores – determine the prices themselves.
– Therefore, the price can vary between the same products between different retailers and stores, she says.
– Different purchase price
Nina Horn Hynne, communications manager at Meny, refers to the supplier for details about the products and ingredients.
As for the price difference, she answers the following:
– In general, our pricing is governed by the entry price from the supplier and the price competition in the market. In this case, both the entry price and the competition are different for the two products.
As mentioned, it is not only Meny that sells Neutral with a large price difference between hand soap and shower soap, but also Oda.no, which operates home delivery of groceries.
– The price difference between Neutral Hand Soap 250 ml and Neutral Shower Gel 250 ml is mostly explained by very different purchase prices. This is something the manufacturer must explain. In addition, the competition between us in the low-price segment has driven down the price of hand soap, says Tor Erik Aag, commercial director for Oda, to Nettavisen.
However, he also points out that the price at Oda for the shower gel of 250 ml is exactly equal to the current price at Rema, Kiwi and Extra. At the same time, Aag points out that Oda sells Neutral Shower Gel 750 ml at the lowest price on the market.
– The unit price of this is very much lower than the price of 250 ml, and quite similar to Neutral hand soap, he says.
Also read: Oda takes up the fight with the low-price chains: – Must always match the prices
– Can save money
If it is the case that there are in fact small differences between the soaps, with regard to, for example, mixing ratios, the impression is still left on the consumer that the soaps look the same.
– Yes, it is the same as with own brands – it is claimed that there are significant differences. But the products are often very similar, says Nikolaisen.
He himself has tried to use hand soap as a shower gel, and sees no problems with it. He advises others to try the same, and see if there are actually differences between shower gel and hand soap.
– Maybe you will be willing to switch to hand soap if there is something you can save money on, he says.
Prices were checked on 25 and 26 October. It is possible that several grocery chains have the same goods and with the same price difference, but we have looked at Meny and Oda.
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