The bank account is emptied faster with more expensive interest and higher prices on everything from furniture to food. In the grocery stores, more customers have started shopping for the chains’ cheapest brands in the past year. The chains claim the competition is fierce. All the chains have chosen to increase the prices of the cheapest items. They have even shrunk the packaging on some items at the same time. Violent price increase on paper news has observed several sold-out situations of, for example, toilet paper from the cheapest brands in the Oslo area this autumn. In the past year, the price for the cheapest eight rolls has increased from NOK 11.90 to NOK 16.90 for toilet paper from Kiwi’s First Price brand, Coop’s Xtra brand and Rema’s Prima toilet paper, according to news’s survey. This amounts to a price increase of 42 per cent. From each customer, the chains now receive NOK 5 more for toilet paper than a year ago. Photo: Emma Fondenes Øvrebø / news If you also bring the cheapest drying rolls off the shelf, the price has risen by 66 per cent in the past year. After the price jump in July, the packages cost NOK 31.40, compared to NOK 18.90 in January. In comparison, prices in general for groceries have increased by 12.1 per cent in the past year, according to Statistics Norway. – Sold at a loss Also own brands such as puffed rice (69 per cent), red cabbage (23 per cent), minced meat (20 per cent) and rice porridge (26 per cent) have increased in price far more than the goods in general on the shelves in the past year. – Why do prices go up at all the chains in this way, Coop? – I can only speak for us, and not for the others. But we try to keep prices as low as possible. With extreme increases in costs, prices become higher. The way it is now, we are not making money, says director of communications at Coop, Bjørn Takle Friis, to news. Communications Director Bjørn Takle Friis at Coop. Photo: Coop Communications Manager Kristine Aakvaag Arvin i Kiwi also points out that it has become more expensive to run a store. – The majority of the items on this list are sold at a loss. These are still sold at a loss, even though prices have risen somewhat. The reason why we sell some goods at a loss is fierce competition between the chains, she tells news. Rema also refers to increases in costs. – The price increases are due to price increases from suppliers, says communications advisor Celine Anette Sjøberg at Rema. The price gap for more expensive goods is narrowing Even though the prices of the cheapest goods have increased, the food chains do not choose to raise prices anywhere near as much for the rest of the goods category. For this reason, among other things, the price of eggs has overall decreased at Kiwi, even though the cheapest item became considerably more expensive. Another example is breakfast cereals. Kellogg’s cornflakes have barely changed in price over the past year and cost NOK 29.90, while the cheap variety from the chains has increased from NOK 14.90 to NOK 26.90. The customer can now choose between an item that is roughly unchanged in price, and one that has increased in price by 80 percent. The price gap between the chain’s own brand and the original has thus fallen to just three kroner. Takle Friis at Coop confirms that the price gap between own brands and other goods has narrowed. – If there is a large gap between two products in a category, it is more natural to increase the price of one product than the other, he says to news. Coop has Extra stores all over the country. Photo: Silje Rognsvåg / news He explains that it is about making more money when everything in society becomes more expensive, such as electricity and shipping. – It could be a result of the situation you are in. You have to charge a higher price for your own brands to survive yourself, he says. – People are more price conscious now. Will it then be more expensive to have low prices for own brands compared to other goods? – No, the fact that demand is high should not affect the prices, says Takle Friis. Shrink soap bottles at the same time When all the chains set their prices at the same time, the chains will still come out the same in price tests. The battle to be the cheapest is fiercest between Kiwi, Extra and Rema. Pocket dust separates the competitors in, for example, VG Matbørs. Prices can be adjusted within seconds because all the chains have electronic shelf prices. Worse is changing the packaging at the same time. But both Rema, Coop and Kiwi have shrunk the bottles of soap within one week this autumn, according to news’s survey. The cheapest rolls of drying rolls and toilet paper have risen sharply in price over the past year. Photo: Emma Fondenes Øvrebø / news Both chlorine, green soap and salviak were sold in 1.5 liter bottles. This spring, the bottle of green soap cost NOK 7.90, which gives a price per liter of NOK 5.26. Now all the bottles have been halved to 7.5 decilitres. The price has nevertheless increased sharply. The green soap, which cost NOK 5.26 per liter this spring, cost NOK 20.53 per liter last week because the price on the shelf was still NOK 15.40 at Kiwi, among others. This results in a price increase of 290 per cent for the floor cleaner. At the weekend, all the chains reduced their prices again after the bottles received attention on social media. This is how the bottle of green soap shrunk at Kiwi. Competitors’ brands also received a slimmer version. Photo: Facsimile/Sofia Storhaug / news – Delivery challenges According to Kiwi, the price of green soap has now been reduced to NOK 7.90. The reason for the shrinkage is twofold, according to Kiwi. – We had delivery challenges with the large bottle after the corona, and in addition we received feedback that the bottles were a bit large to handle both at home and in the shops, says Arvin. Coop points out that the prices of the bottles have also become extremely expensive when the soap and bottles are imported from Europe, and that the packaging is determined by Coop trading. – How is it possible that the bottles are also changed at the competitors at the same time? – There are three windows a year where new products can be registered. In week 38, new products were registered. We cannot change a package size beyond these times. That is the reason, says Takle-Friis. Arvin assures that the competition in grocery is still fierce. – We do what we can to keep price inflation down. The price increase does not cover our increased costs, and none of our 693 stores receive electricity support, she says.
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Increasing the prices more on the cheap favorites – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
