Inflation in Germany has fallen, but food prices remain high. Is it worth comparing the prices of supermarkets and discount stores?
Inflation in Germany fell to its lowest level in almost three and a half years in September. Even if prices fell in a few areas, they rose in others – including food.
For many people, this means that they still have to compare prices more and more when shopping and prefer to go to the discount store rather than the supposedly more expensive supermarket. But is it really worth it – or are the prices similar everywhere?
According to a current study by the “SWR Marktcheck” format, there is a surprise among the own brands. Regardless of whether it was at a discounter or in a supermarket – a test purchase with identical items always ended up with the same amount: 27.34 euros. The testers paid an average of 55 euros to purchase branded products.
So that means: If you rely entirely on your own brands, you can go to Rewe, Aldi, Lidl and Edeka and pay the same everywhere. But does that also mean that you have to compromise on quality? That depends on how the market check shows. When comparing the branded product “Prinzenrolle” and its own-brand counterpart, there is definitely a difference. The original uses chocolate, while the cheap product only uses cocoa cream.
But there are also own-brand products that perform better in the test than the more expensive branded products. In the blind tasting conducted by “SWR Marktcheck”, for example, the coffee from Edeka’s own brand “Gut & Günstig” performed best – Tchibo came in last place. When it comes to ketchup, the Heinz brand product had the highest sugar content.
But what about the offers – is it worth checking the retailers’ brochures regularly? In contrast to supermarkets, discounters often have an aggressive discount strategy. But as an analysis by Smhaggle, an app for comparing prices for groceries, shows, you can’t always save on offers.
As Smhaggle founder Sven Reuter explains, it is a “fairy tale” that discounters always have the cheapest prices. The analysis shows, for example, that Lidl is in last place when it comes to price advantages for promotional offers – behind the supermarkets Rewe and Edeka. Penny and Netto also performed worse than the two supermarkets.
Aldi Nord comes in first place in the comparison, followed by Kaufland and Aldi Süd. According to Reuter, Lidl sells “at the most unattractive prices on average” during the promotions.
