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Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

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Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#91

Post by thaumasiotes »

KptMarchewa wrote: post #17
quitit wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One trick I noticed while doing data input for supermarkets (in a different market) is that price rises are always advertised as promotions. Say a supermarket has a $1.10 item and they want to increase that product to $1.50. They'll up the price to $1.50 immediately, and add a "40c off" to the ticket. The consumer sees "promotion" and assumes it's a discount, when it's actually just the same price as usual. Then ~2 w…

Now in Poland every promotion needs to display lowest price for the product in last 30 days l, effectively countering this strategy.

That explains why Good Old Games has that display for games that are "on sale". Does Steam honor that requirement?

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#92

Post by OfSanguineFire »

iraqmtpizza wrote: post #74
OfSanguineFire wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poland has still been hit by inflation, though. I have taken advantage of having a registered business in order to do a lot of my shopping at the wholesaler Makro, where prices still lag well behind ordinary supermarkets.

not relevant to the comment to which you are replying. truth in advertising has nothing to do with inflation. but it's also absurd to suggest that price controls are a valid means of addressing inflation

It is relevant to the context of this thread in general. Even if Polish consumers are spared the trick of raising prices through fake discounts as the OP mentioned, they still suffer from the same surge in prices that many of the European posters here are complaining about. Nowhere in my post was I calling for price controls.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#93

Post by martopix »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #44
the-dude wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is ridiculous expensive for peanuts.

On the US west coast, I just bought 1,816 grams (4 pounds) of raw peanuts for $8.00. Edit: if the comparison is dry salted peanuts, then Walmart sells Planters brand for ~$3.50 per 500 grams.

There is no point comparing across countries

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#94

Post by living_room_pc »

iraqmtpizza wrote: post #77
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If food and housing gets too expensive, then sorry mate, nothing we can do about it, that's just how the free market™ works, try working harder. But when labor gets too expensive pushing wages up, then it's no longer the free market, but it's a "labor shortage" catastrophe all over the media and we have to shed tears about the poor business owners wo can't afford a second Porsche, so immigration gets turbocharged unt…

have you ever tried building a house? it's one of the least free markets there is. the quickest way to get arrested is to buy cheap land and start putting up houses willy nilly

Not only that, have you ever tried understanding building code in order to construct a "legal" residence? Sometimes it is regulated to the point where I could not build a house unless it had the right angle and shade of red terracotta roofing tiles.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#95

Post by the-dude »

martopix wrote: post #93
lotsofpulp wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the US west coast, I just bought 1,816 grams (4 pounds) of raw peanuts for $8.00. Edit: if the comparison is dry salted peanuts, then Walmart sells Planters brand for ~$3.50 per 500 grams.

There is no point comparing across countries

Why not?

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#96

Post by lotsofpulp »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #87
lotsofpulp wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

The retailers have been questioned regularly why they overcharge in Austria compared to Germany, and they never cited extra wages(lower than Germany FYI), business or tax overhead as the reason, but rather beat it around the bush saying "we're only charging what the market will bare and this is what the Austrian market bares", basically admitting they're screwing you and getting away with it, especially that they oft…

I guess that is technically the truth. As a business owner, I also charge the most I think my customer’s were able and willing to pay.

But in all cases I am familiar with (US/Canada/UK/Germany), there are sufficient competing grocery retailers that the price most customers are willing to pay is only a couple percentage points higher than the cost of goods sold.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#97

Post by iraqmtpizza »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #80
iraqmtpizza wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

have you ever tried building a house? it's one of the least free markets there is. the quickest way to get arrested is to buy cheap land and start putting up houses willy nilly

>have you ever tried building a house? it's one of the least free markets there is. The "free market" in the context of housing was meant in a satirical way hence the TM symbol. Of course that market is 100% fixed by design but we get parroted the story where it's 100% "free" as if the government has no control over the levers that wholly impact it's pricing (zoning and building regulations, immigration, interest rat…

well, there are genuinely dumb people out there who think that housing is a market failure. like homebuilders are unwilling to take necessary risks or something. and they definitely don't mean the risk of going to prison (100%)

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#98

Post by FirmwareBurner »

iraqmtpizza wrote: post #90
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said nobody tried price fixing in Germany, but when it comes to consumer pricing in retail, my take is that Germany has a bigger market with more competition meaning the retailers can stomach increased competition and lower margins making it up in sheer volume. Smaller countries like Austria have much less competition, less volume sales, meaning more space for monopolies to form to charge higher prices.

what happened to the Common Market

Common market means that Apple can't charge for iCloud to Sweden more expensively (before tax) than what they charge to Spain, it doesn't mean that goods made in one country of the union can't have way different pricing in another based on shipping, VAT, taxes, labor, supply/demand, or straight up price gouging.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#99

Post by inglor_cz »

iraqmtpizza wrote: post #90
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said nobody tried price fixing in Germany, but when it comes to consumer pricing in retail, my take is that Germany has a bigger market with more competition meaning the retailers can stomach increased competition and lower margins making it up in sheer volume. Smaller countries like Austria have much less competition, less volume sales, meaning more space for monopolies to form to charge higher prices.

what happened to the Common Market

This is indeed my question as well. I am Czech. We are right next to Germany. Theoretically, this is one huge Common Market. In practice, many mass-produced things are much more expensive in Czechia than in Germany, including food.

I suspect that the language barrier is still real. But then again, German-speaking Austria experiences the same thing.

I wish we had a common European delivery service, like the US has US Post or DHL, with the same cost structure across the entire continent. We don't, a package from Spain to Czechia is much more expensive than within either Spain or Czechia.

A common European delivery service would give foreign e-shops a massive competitive edge. Suddenly, it would be more efficient to buy cheaper things in Slovenia or Bulgaria.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#100

Post by the-dude »

mthoms wrote: post #60
the-dude wrote: post #15

Potatos ( in or outside supermarket, large bags ) have literally doubled in price YoY in NL. I get 5kg instead of 10kg for the same price. Same month, last year.

I'm not sure if it's still happening but... there was a potato shortage during the pandemic. At least here in North America. It had to do with a disease affecting the crops IIRC.

What I understood from actual farmer : fuel and fertilizer.
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