Identical prices for the same goods or a difference of a few cents. This was the result of a comparison of prices in the stores of the seven largest retail chains, carried out by Radiožurnál and the website iROZHLAS.cz. Field journalists focused on eight items and monitored their non-discounted prices in stores in twelve regional cities and Prague over a three-month period. The investigation also revealed that the price increase announced by the seller has not yet occurred starting from the new year.
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Prague
6:00am January 22, 2024 Share on Facebook
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The same or similar prices, according to Tomáš Prouza, president of the Association for Trade and Tourism, indicate that there is very tough competition on the food market | Photo: René Volfík | Source: iROZHLAS.cz
For three months, journalists from Radiožurnál and the website iROZHLAS.cz recorded the non-discounted prices of eight basic food items. These included, for example, edible cumin bread, granulated sugar, butter or semi-skimmed milk. Data collection took place in the months of October, November and January. December was skipped because a number of foods were featured at pre-Christmas events.
For some items the prices in different stores were the same. For example, in November consumers could buy cumin bread at exactly the same price in different retail chains. In Prague, for example, the Billa and Penny Market chains – which have the same owner – offered bread for 37 crowns and 42 pence, as did Albert and Lidl.
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In Pilsen all seven chains maintained the same price in November. So does Kaufland – which has the same owner as Lidl – as well as Tesco and Globus.
A similar situation also occurred in October with refrigerated chicken without offal. Residents of Plzeň, Liberec and Brno could buy a kilo in all seven chains for exactly the same price: 89.90.
For some items in the cart the prices were different, but in many cases they differed by units of cents.
Identical prices for the same goods in competing stores surprised journalists, which is why Radiožurnál and iROZHLAS.cz turned to the antimonopoly office asking whether this is a common practice or improper behavior.
According to the spokesperson of the Office for the Protection of Economic Competition Martin Švanda, the same price does not necessarily have to be an indication of anti-competitive behavior.
“In addition to the sign of a cartel, it can happen, for example, that retail chains have the same supplier of goods and simply respect the price recommended by him. A more likely cause could be the so-called price tracking, which is not a prohibited practice,” says Švanda.
According to him, for the antimonopoly office to deal with the suspicion of anticompetitive behavior, further evidence is needed. For example, the fact that the price was created on the basis of a prohibited agreement between traders.
According to Tomáš Prouza, president of the Association for Trade and Tourism, the same or similar prices indicate that there is very tough competition on the food market.
“Where there is competition, basically no one can beat the price. If they leave it higher, then other customers will go to the competition. If someone significantly lowers the price, the others have to adapt so as not to lose their customers,” explains Prouza.
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According to Jana Matesová, an economist and former representative of the Czech Republic at the World Bank, similar or the same prices for some staple foods, such as sweets, are not unusual.
According to her, however, customers should have a better understanding of the current prices of basic foodstuffs at which large retailers sell them. For example, through an online database, which is currently missing in the Czech Republic.
According to Matesová, such information sharing could ultimately influence traders’ behavior.
“Only this would push them to self-control, because the data will ultimately reveal any possible wrongdoing,” thinks Matesová.
No price increase
Already at the beginning of December the chains had warned that starting from January they would increase food prices by up to 10%.
A survey conducted by Radiožurnál and the website iROZHLAS.cz shows that in January a shopping cart with the eight monitored products cost 317 crowns and 23 halers without discounts, i.e. around two crowns less than in November and around 50 halers in less than in October.
As for food products on sale, they became 6% cheaper in January compared to the previous month. This emerged from the analysis of the discount flyers of the seven largest food chains, prepared by the company Česká distribuční for the Czech Radio.
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2024-01-22 05:00:00
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