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Big differences in shopping baskets – check how much you can save

An Yle price survey shows that consumers can make major savings by picking up house brands at Lidl supermarkets. The second best buys were found at S-group chain markets, with the most expensive food basket being one filled with Pirkka brand goods from K-supermarkets.

Price of a shopping basket. — A comparison of annual spending on baskets of 31 items in different sizes of households. Image: Stina Tuominen / Yle

13.5.2014 14:04

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Ilkka Alarotu, the S-Group's Director of Assortments and Pricing, was not pleased to see the results of the Yle survey.

"Our goal is to be less expensive than Lidl, absolutely. If we haven't done that, we have to be humble about that fact," commented Alarotu.

Kesko Sales Director (K-supermarkets) Jussi Tolvanen was not worried by the results, instead pointed to the issue of quality.

"Pirkka [brand] has different goals than do our competitors. It is important to us that there are a lot of Finnish-produced products," explained Tolvanen.

The goods priced at these two chains were the house brands "Pirkka" and "Rainbow". Both groups also have lower-priced brands, but these represent a small selection of products. Lidl has over one hundred house brands, and no precise information is available on possible variations in quality. Lidl declined to comment on the Yle price survey.

Paying for Finnish-made

The largest number of Finnish-produced items among those surveyed by Yle were found in the Pirkka brand products from K-supermarkets. Of the 31, 20 Pirkka products were Finnish-produced, as were 17 of the Rainbow brand items, and 12 of those from the shelves at Lidl.

"Domestically-produced goods cost [more], but are key for shops these days. Lidl has recognized this, too. The share of domestically-produced goods within house brands has consistently risen," says Ari Peltoniemi of the National Consumer Research Centre.

The popularity of house brands has been on the rise and now account for around one-fifth of all supermarket products sold. According to Ari Peltoniemi, the economic recession has boosted their popularity and supermarkets are giving them more shelf space.

House brands are usually less expensive than major brand-name products, but not always. Peltoniemi has also noted that the prices of house brand items rise more quickly and fall more slowly than do the prices of major brands.

Check price information for individual items

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¹ Cocoa content: Lidl less than 50 %, Rainbow 56 %, Pirkka minimum of 50 %. ² Fat content of Edam cheese: Lidl 21 %, Rainbow 17 %, Pirkka 24 %. ³ Rainbow ja Lidl rapeseed oil, Pirkka turnip rape oil. ⁴ Rye content: Lidl 49 %, Rainbow 56 %, Pirkka 48 %.

Price information was surveyed on the 27th and 28th of March 2014 at the Helsinki Arabia S-Market, Helsinki Arabia K-Supermarket, and the Pakila Lidl. The Eldorado brand products of Tuko Logistics were not included because of the significantly smaller range of available items in comparison to the others surveyed.