Household basket: The competition, prices and everything we saw in the first 10 days

With daily changes to the lists shared by the e-katanalotis.gr platform, supermarkets continue to reformulate the prices of the products included in the “household basket».

As the minister, Adonis Georgiadis, said in his statements, of the 664 same products that the “household basket” had last week, 541 products kept the same price this week, 101 reduced the price and only two increased The honor.

Also 150 products are different from the previous week while the total value for the “household basket” per supermarket compared to the previous week is lower.

According to what Yannis Doxaras, founder and CEO of Warply, which operates e-katanalotis.gr, points out to APE-MPE, last Wednesday, November 9, it was one week since the day the household basket premiered and the challenges at the level operation were enough. They mainly concerned the quality of the data provided by the supermarket chains (a result of the tight implementation time of the measure), the labeling of the products and their adequacy on the shelves. All of the above problems were addressed with coordinated efforts and willingness to cooperate, both by the businesses participating in the “household basket” action and by the relevant ministry.

“The first comparative results show that the measure seems to be in the right direction, with prices remaining stable or even decreasing. The supermarket chains did an excellent job to support it in terms of pricing policy” points out Mr. Doxaras and explains that last week 3/4 of the products kept the same price or even went down. Supermarket chains are constantly adjusting their product lists in an attempt to keep prices stable or even lower. “This means that we managed for two whole weeks to keep the products of the basket stable even in very competitive categories such as milk for example” he notes.

10% off private label products

According to the data available to e-katanalotis.gr, in terms of the composition of the basket from the first analysis it emerged that there is a noticeable decrease of 10% in private label (PL) products in relation to the surnames. These percentages change daily (as of Saturday morning over 30 products have been discounted since Wednesday) and according to Mr. Doxaras more brands are being added to the cart all the time.

From Warply’s analysis, it appears that the cheapest weighted basket costs just under 100 euros, while the most expensive is 155 euros. So a variation close to 55 euros is observed, which gives the consumer the possibility to choose between different product qualities.

What does the new amendment provide?

With the passing of an amendment in the Parliament to deal with the problems found in the implementation of the “household basket”, specific dimensions are provided for the labeling of the products in the basket, as well as that they should be in color. It is also foreseen that the supermarket chains should have sufficient quantities of the products included in their basket so that there are no shortages and replacement of the products with other more expensive ones.

Cart is being processed

At the same time, there are thoughts, following consumer demand, to include in the “household basket” products aimed at specific population groups that have special nutritional needs. One such group, perhaps the largest, is the diabetics who have requested to put in the basket products that are exclusively addressed to their needs. It is also planned to expand the institution to other sectors (bakeries, butchers, etc.) to further cover the basic needs of consumers as well as to expand it with more branded products.

In this context, a teleconference of the Board of Directors of the Association of Greek Food Industries was held with the leadership of the Ministry of the Interior. In a statement, SEBT stated that the Greek food & beverage industry consistently offers consumers branded, safe, high-quality products, with ongoing promotions, while ensuring the adequacy of food products. More specifically, since the beginning of this year, the percentage of promotional intensity for branded FMCG in the food & beverage category has reached 42.3%, with a steady upward trend (source: NielsenIQ). “Sharing the criticality of the situation, the food & beverage industry will continue to support the Greek consumer, in order for the products it produces to be his conscious choice” reports SEBT and adds that “in the context of its institutional role, it encourages its members to intensify their actions, expanding their participation in the household basket” .

Participating companies

It is noted that the following companies participate in the “household basket”: Sklavenitis, AB Vassilopoulos, Lidl, My Market, Masoutis, Galaxias, Kritikos, Bazaar, Market In, SYNKA, Chalkiadakis, Discount Markt and e-fresh.gr. He participates in the action, from the second week of implementation of the measure, with his own basket and efood.

As Haris Takas, GM – Quick Commerce & Integrated Verticals, reports to APE-MPE, “efood, wanting to make a significant contribution to alleviating the effects of economic pressure on households, proceeded to create a special category in the efood market, with 90 popular products necessities, at reduced prices”.

According to Mr. Taka, the products with reduced prices concern all product categories such as bread, pasta, rice, pulses, milk, coffee, tea, sugar, detergents, stationery and cover the basic needs of households (essential items) . “They are chosen based on the popular choices of consumers of the efood market and concern branded products, so as to ensure that the ‘household basket’ will have a practical benefit for a large part of consumers, given that efood is the largest delivery service in Greece , with millions of registered users, who use its platform every day” he points out.