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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

#341

Post by stewbrew »

ro-_-b wrote: post #260

I lived in Austria and in Germany and it's 100% true, prices in supermarkets are significantly higher in Austria even for products produced in Austria. The reasons IMO are: * less price sensitivity: German people are extremely price sensitive, they discuss and compare prices all the time. In Austria people care way less about this on average. Supermarkets take advantage * higher logistics costs: population density in…

You should add conglomerates. In Austria, the grocery market is effectively dominated by 3 companies. They rarely compete directly, i.e., by having stores next to each other.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#342

Post by stewbrew »

ro-_-b wrote: post #268
ro-_-b wrote: post #260

I lived in Austria and in Germany and it's 100% true, prices in supermarkets are significantly higher in Austria even for products produced in Austria. The reasons IMO are: * less price sensitivity: German people are extremely price sensitive, they discuss and compare prices all the time. In Austria people care way less about this on average. Supermarkets take advantage * higher logistics costs: population density in…

Also important to note: Germany is a car country: most ways to work, gym, etc in the average German city are done by car. Makes it easy to drive the extra mile to the cheapest supermarket. Austria is much better for using public transport or the bike. In this case you won't make the extra way to stop at the cheapest grocery. And in the areas in Austria where people use cars population density is so low that not a lot…

Funny comment. You should tell this the Austrian chancellor.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#343

Post by iraqmtpizza »

atdrummond wrote: post #237
iraqmtpizza wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In context it is very suggestive. Maybe you are incapable of inferences but other people are not, so I decided it was best to dispel that idea ahead of time.

It is unreasonable to infer what the original author has said he has not implied.

You didn't say that you didn't imply it until after I brought it up. In fact, you never would have said that unless and until I raised the issue. So I accept your apology.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#344

Post by paganel »

oh_sigh wrote: post #288
paganel wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Related, I’m currently in Greece and the price of locally produced peaches is higher here than the price of the same Greek-produced peaches is in Romania (from where I’m from). Noticed it today and it blew my mind, not sure how the people of Greece put up with this bs (the price of gasoline is also way higher).

Do they send lower quality peaches to Romania?

These Greek peaches are indeed bigger, as in, apple-big, but not sure that that “quality” can justify the price difference (they’re twice as expensive in Greece). And the smaller peaches taste better anyway, like it’s usually the case with fruits and “bigness”.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#345

Post by iraqmtpizza »

em-bee wrote: post #248
iraqmtpizza wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How hard is it to sell food out of a flower shop? Out of a candy store? A toy store? A gift shop? A coffee shop? A hardware store? There are retailers all over the country that could start selling food in no time flat. Starbucks is part of the Austrian grocery cartel too? And there's still no evidence that authorities are turning a blind eye to price fixing other than 'price go up.' Ask an Austrian hardware store own…

i am not sure i understand what your argument is, or what you think mine is. your last sentence suggests that you don't believe that anyone can just undercut the big supermarket chains in austria. which is what i also don't believe. but your first sentence is saying something different, so that has me confused.

What will happen if a hardware store starts selling bread? Austrian grocery cartel thugs will show up and break his legs? Please explain in detail why you believe that coffee shops cannot sell bread without a multi-year planning and approval process.

It's bs that anyone not in the supposed cartel can suddenly make huge profits on food by undercutting. Gross margins on food are almost certainly very low. THERE IS NO CARTEL. There is no room to undercut. There is no evidence of illegal price fixing other than price go up. The only cartel is the Austrian government which is the cause of the price increases--not via lack of enforcement of laws but from carrying out their policies as written. This is inconvenient to the socialist talking point about corporations fixing the price of bread with impunity.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#346

Post by juancb »

KeplerBoy wrote: post #233
hathym wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

greed and pursuit of increased profits is a good reason

Sure, those are the reasons, but I don't believe in Austrian exceptionalism. Really curious what's special about the market here that allows companies to exploit the people like this.

Imagine if we could exploit everyone everywhere like this!

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#347

Post by ccozan »

tetris11 wrote: post #103
iraqmtpizza wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what happened to the Common Market

In Germany? It gets superceded by more ethnic retailers importing cheap produce from their relatively poorer origin countries, and offering actual competitive prices against the likes of Aldi and Lidl. I've noticed a surge in Germans going to Turkish/Arabic food stores in the last few years.

It is true: the chicken in turkish store is quite cheaper than ANY discounter at ANY time. And quality is above average.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#348

Post by pbhjpbhj »

switch007 wrote: post #234
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #228

If it's like the UK, there is so much "shrinkflation" (reduction in product size [and cheapening of ingredients]) that prices comparison is going to need per gram pricing. Identical looking packs now have extra air gaps: inflated chocolate bar wrappers, ice-cream cones with a 1cm gap below the lid, butter cartons have a recessed base, packages that formerly had straight sides now taper, etc. ... lots of these "tricks…

> that prices comparison is going to need per gram pricing Not entirely sure what you mean here, but we do have per gram pricing requirements (expressed in £/KG). EDIT: oh you mean that shrinkflation is so bad that £/gram will make more sense. Hah yeah The trouble is that grocers have figured out that if you fool the population in to using a 'loyalty' card, you can make everything a 'promotional price' and avoid the…

Lidl/Aldi don't put their prices online, I think? But also, perhaps they change their prices more rapidly?

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#349

Post by pbhjpbhj »

highwaylights wrote: post #244
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #228

If it's like the UK, there is so much "shrinkflation" (reduction in product size [and cheapening of ingredients]) that prices comparison is going to need per gram pricing. Identical looking packs now have extra air gaps: inflated chocolate bar wrappers, ice-cream cones with a 1cm gap below the lid, butter cartons have a recessed base, packages that formerly had straight sides now taper, etc. ... lots of these "tricks…

In the UK the supermarkets (I assume they have to by law) quote the weight of contents of a single unit of product (which is supposed to be total weight - packaging weight), so you could analyse this quite rapidly.

They don't, some items are per unit, which is a way that avoid comparisons for fruit. In [my local] Tesco they even took away the manual scales now, making comparison across 5 different types of apples, say, much harder. Good mental-arithmetic practice.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#350

Post by switch007 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #348
switch007 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that prices comparison is going to need per gram pricing Not entirely sure what you mean here, but we do have per gram pricing requirements (expressed in £/KG). EDIT: oh you mean that shrinkflation is so bad that £/gram will make more sense. Hah yeah The trouble is that grocers have figured out that if you fool the population in to using a 'loyalty' card, you can make everything a 'promotional price' and avoid the…

Lidl/Aldi don't put their prices online, I think? But also, perhaps they change their prices more rapidly?

Aldi appear to list the prices, perhaps just a subset, I'm not sure: https://groceries.aldi.co.uk/

I shop there 2-3 times a week and wouldn't really say "rapidly". Or if they do, the swings aren't big enough for me to notice.

Though looking at their site, I think they are partaking in the old "raise prices for a short period then show them as a 'sale' price" nonsense. But it only seems to be £0.10-£0.30 and the higher prices aren't even that offensive (yes I have a soft spot for Aldi :D).

I would like to see companies forced to show the period that the higher price was charged for.

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