That appears from research of the Consumers’ Association. He checked whether the price on the shelves was also the same as that eventually appeared on the receipt. This was the case for all products in only three of the 28 supermarkets where a sample was carried out.
At the other 25 supermarkets there was a difference in at least one item.
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Albert Heijn and Jumbo
On average, the price of all eight products deviated by one, which is 12.5 percent. There are considerable differences between supermarkets.
For example, at the two largest chains in the Netherlands, Albert Heijn and Jumbo, no less than 22 percent of the products were incorrectly priced.
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Aldi and Lidl
Aldi, on the other hand, made the fewest mistakes. Only 5 percent of the prices were wrong. At Lidl, the other German discounter, this was the case in 7 percent of the products.
Coop made a mistake in 8 percent of the cases, Spar in 11 percent and Plus in 15 percent. At one Jumbo store, no less than 40 percent of the shopping cart was incorrectly priced, according to the Consumentenbond.
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Sometimes the price is lower
Consumers did not always get the short straw. For 51 products, the price on the receipt was lower than indicated in the store on the shelf.
However, the price was higher in 36 cases. Remarkably, the price difference was on average larger in the latter category.
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The smallest difference at Aldi
In absolute terms, the difference in price at the shelf and that at the checkout was lowest at Aldi, 0.11 euros. At Albert Heijn this was almost five times as much: 0.54 euros.
It is especially often wrong with offers, according to the Consumers Association. “More than half of the products with a different price were promotional products.”
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Electronic tickets
The price at the till is usually the correct one. According to the researchers, price deviations mainly occur because the supermarket has not replaced the tickets after a price change.
There is a technical solution for this: electronic price tags that are automatically adjusted when the price is adjusted in the computer system.
However, in supermarkets with electronic price tags there are also paper tickets and on average that price was not correct in 19 percent of the cases, according to the Consumers’ Association.
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‘Photo of price at shelf’
Prices of products change very regularly, the Consumers’ Association acknowledges. Still, according to the organization, customers should be able to assume that price tags are correct.
According to the association, anyone who is disadvantaged at the till would be wise to take a picture of the shelf and to request a refund of the overpaid amount at the service counter.
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