Bad news for grocery customers: It seems that the Easter price war will not happen this year either.
Last year it was no Easter price war, something that did not go down well with retail expert Odd Gisholt, who thought the stores would profit from it.
Barely two weeks ago, it looked like there would be an Easter price war this year, then Extra cut the prices of more Easter items, and competitors Rema and Kiwi followed. Now, just a few days from the beginning of Easter itself, the big price cuts are waiting to happen.
The online newspaper has checked the prices of 32 items that many put in the shopping cart for Easter. However, there is very little that separates the low-price chains.
– I am disappointed. What are we going to do with three different discount chains when they are the same? asks Rune Nikolaisen, who is behind Gjerrigknark.com.
See the price list from this week’s test further down in the case.
Also read: The experts believe that Coop has changed: – There is no longer control
– Agreed game
It is Extra who wins the prize test. Kiwi’s total price is 0.26 percent higher, while Rema 1000 is 0.35 percent more expensive than Extra.
– This says something about the entire grocery market. Competition is too bad. I think there are more of us who are looking forward to us being able to travel out of the country and buy goods, then I think the chains will get it in the woods. People feel cheated, says Nikolaisen.
He misses the old price wars where the chains pushed prices further down than the competitors.
– The competition does not seem to work. It seems like an agreed game. If someone adjusts the prices, then the competitors adjust the prices accordingly, he says.
– I thought we would get more stir in the Easter prices this year. It’s about giving people joy with the little things. The food barons do not suffer from the need to sell Freia Easter eggs at a loss, says Nikolaisen.
Also read: Giant year for Kiwi and Menu owner: Increase of over one billion kroner
Believes consumers are losing
Before Christmas, Nettavisen wrote that Kiwi and Menu owners Norgesgruppen, Rema 1000 and Coop risk a total of 21 billion in fees. The Norwegian Competition Authority believes that illegal price collusion may have led to higher grocery prices. The collaboration applies to the price hunting activities of the chains.
Read more here: Alerts shock fine to Rema, Coop and Norgesgruppen: – We take this very seriously
Nikolaisen thinks the prices in this week’s price test show that the chains could not possibly have stopped following each other’s prices.
– It is quite obvious that they are still checking the prices of the competitors. I am absolutely sure of that, he says.
He refers specifically to the example with 3 pk. Quick Lunch from Freia in this week’s price test. Only Kiwi sells this pack size, while Rema sells 6 pk. and Extra 4 pk. The price for a 3 pk. was 17.90 at all three chains after the conversion.
– When it is exactly the same after the conversion, it is clear that someone is following. I think it’s bad. It is a pity for consumers that there is no competition, he says.
– Intense price competition
We have asked the chains about the reason why there is no price war this year, and how it is possible that they are so similar in price when they are not going to check each other’s prices.
– The price competition in Norway is intense, so it is no wonder that the low-price chains are close to each other. Everyone is interested in having the lowest prices, so no one wants to see a competitor stand out, says Calle Hägg, PR and communications manager at Rema 1000.
He says they continue to do what they can to push prices. Hägg points out that they have cut the prices of dozens of Easter products in recent weeks, such as Quick Lunch, Solo Super, orange and lamb shank.
– We work every day to give customers as low prices as possible, he says.
Harald Kristiansen, communications manager at Coop Norge, also says that they have been active in pushing prices this year, and they are pushing prices as much as they can.
– After Extra was the first to cut Easter prices, Coop’s low-price chain has cut prices more than 1,200 times. This is good for customers, he says and adds:
– How it develops further at Easter is too early to say, but the cheapest Easter shopping will be available to customers at Extra, he says.
– They follow us
Kristine Aakvaag Arvin, communications manager at Kiwi, explains why they believe there are such small differences between the low-price chains.
– That the distance between the chains is small, is due to tough competition and that they often like to follow us on our price cuts, she says.
Arvin says that they experience that the competition is fierce, and pushes prices every day.
– We will of course be the cheapest on Easter goods, but we are also concerned with pushing down fixed prices. We think it is more important than selling the hummingbird egg at a give-away price, she says.
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