It all starts with a Facebook comment
On 12 October
2010 Pick n Pay proudly published an article declaring that they were the
cheapest grocery store, according to an independent website study. Recently I
have heard more and more comments stating how expensive they are, and when I saw
this comment on Facebook:
It made me think
about how much I had been spending on our monthly grocery shops. It also made
me think about how I was not even looking at the weekly broadsheets comparing
Checkers and Pick ‘n Pay because I had a Smart Shopper card and a Vitality Healthy Foods
Benefits™ card. Essentially I thought that Pick ‘n Pay and Vitality were giving me money back for shopping
and making good choices… My perception was that, not only was Pick ‘n Pay was significantly cheaper than Woolworths, but I was also getting money back - I. WAS. WINNING.
Etienne’s comment made me stop short and question what the perception is out there. I did some research,
in an attempt to challenge that perception. This what I found:
66.7% of my
survey population do the bulk of their shopping at Pick ‘n Pay. They perceive Pick
‘n Pay to be value for money (58.2%). When I asked them to give their feedback
on how expensive they found certain items to be, relative to Woolworths – a store
that 50% of the surveyed sample considers to be expensive, yet value for money
and appropriate to shop at for special occasions. The majority had this to say
about this shopping list:
So here is a reality check. According to
the online stores at Woolworths and Pick ‘n Pay, here are the prices for the
following items:
One of the perks of shopping at Woolworths
is that if you have a WRewards card. You
instantly receive 10% off of the price you pay on certain items on a weekly basis. So let’s have a look at what
this means for the above, assuming these items have been flagged for this special.
So clearly, everyday can be
a special occasion because suddenly Woolworths is a whole lot cheaper and savings are immediate. True, Pick ‘n Pay has their
Smart shopper programme and the rate of savings is the same as Woolworths, but
the real difference lies in the instant gratification, and the fact that you
can use your savings where you choose to use them. Pick ‘n Pay on the other
hand requires that you collect points each month and when you have enough to
redeem for cash, you get a Pick ‘n Pay voucher that you can only use at Pick ‘n
Pay.
So what does
this tell me? First of all, I really should get a WRewards card. It also tells me that I should be taking note of the weekly adverts in the local paper and
that it is probably worth my while to shop around, but, honestly who has the
time and patience when it comes to navigating your way around the busy isles of
a grocery store at month end?
A friend of mine
has this concept – what if we had the ability to have an online store that had
the pricelists of all the items of all the different stores. When you were
selecting items to fulfil your grocery needs, it would always give you the most
competitively priced item. Upon completing your purchase (and for a small administration
fee) the items were delivered to you, the same day. Hmmmm… If only.
My best choice is to choose the store that gives me that gives me the best prices, instantly and consistantly... I may be doing a lot more shopping at Woolworths...
UPDATE 15/06/2012: A friend pointed out that there is a website that does compare prices called Retail Price Watch. Maybe it can help you "shop around" for the best prices.
