Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

Post by iraqmtpizza » Sat, Sep 16, 2023, 1:21 PM UTC

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #79

iraqmtpizza wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the retail stores are price fixing then why are their stock prices down so much this year? Their investors are getting savaged. What did they do with all this extra cashflow?

My guess is because in Germany they're taking a loss due to actual competition, and making it up in other countries like Austria where they rake in higher profits than in their home-land.

Post by barrkel » Sat, Sep 16, 2023, 1:23 PM UTC

OfSanguineFire wrote: post #57

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most famously, Red Bull, which is made in Austria but it's actually cheaper after it gets shipped to Germany than in the country it's made in. Insane. Austrians are being flogged. Germany feels like the only EU country with some sane competition in the retail sector.

Red Bull is not made in Austria, at least not necessarily. The European company is headquartered there, but its business model is largely just owning the IP. The filling of Red Bull cans is outsourced to Rauch, which produces at least some of the product in Switzerland.

Post by FirmwareBurner » Sat, Sep 16, 2023, 1:25 PM UTC

barrkel wrote: post #83

OfSanguineFire wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Red Bull is not made in Austria, at least not necessarily. The European company is headquartered there, but its business model is largely just owning the IP. The filling of Red Bull cans is outsourced to Rauch, which produces at least some of the product in Switzerland.

Famously cheap Switzerland. I get the feeling that the same tricks are being played in Switzerland. Coop and Migros feel a lot like a duopoly, and discounts also cyclical. Not unusual to see 40% discount on outrageously overpriced detergents, for example. I do most of my shopping in Germany.

Post by FirmwareBurner » Sat, Sep 16, 2023, 1:26 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #75

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is evidence that the prices they charge in Austria are often significantly higher than in Germany, meaning higher profits per sale, at the expense of the consumer who's wages are lower than those in Germany, so it's a double whammy.

In the US, many times you cannot compare prices between cities much less states due to differences in land price and costs of city and state taxes/regulations such as minimum wages. Surely, Austria and Germany, as two different countries, have at least a few big differences in tax systems/labor laws/local laws/etc that can affect cost of goods sold?

Post by Haemm0r » Sat, Sep 16, 2023, 1:28 PM UTC

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #68

Haemm0r wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The situation in Austria is fundamentally different than in Hungary. In Hungary the government kept prices of energy and food down by law for quite some time when everywhere else prices where rising. What they see now is the catch-up effect after those restrictions fell. I actually do not know what is the reason why the Austrian inflation is still that high. Energy prices as are like before covid, but food prices kee…

The Austrian inflation problem is easily answered: wage inflation (collective bargaining agreements), paired with high gas costs, paired with many inflation linked contracts such as rents. Many of these feed back into the inflation basked and just make inflation quite sticky.