The results are in for our supermarket price survey. For the first time since Irish Country Living undertook our shopping basket comparison in 2011, we have a new winner: Tesco.

While Dunnes Stores consistently worked out the cheapest for our first three surveys, Tesco undercut them this time around by €0.11. While this was a small margin between the two, expect to pay nearly €4 more for the same basket of goods in Eurospar, with the retailer working out €1.15 more expensive than Tesco for a packet of Fish Fingers and a whopping €2.55 dearer for a Goodfellas pizza.

However, rising prices do seem to be a trend across all retailers. Back in September 2011, the cheapest block of Kilmeaden cheese was €2.00, you can now expect to pay at least €2.99.

Similarly, the cheapest bottle of Lenor fabric softener used to be €3, but last week we couldn’t find it cheaper than €3.49. Although groceries work out very reasonable in Lidl and Aldi, our survey has consistently proved that Lidl is by no means the cheapest when it comes to branded products.

This time around, the shopping basket in Lidl cost €0.36 more than Tesco. However, what was most notable was the lack of choice.

When we first undertook the survey in 2011, Lidl stocked 22 of the 26 branded products in our shopping basket. This time around we could only find 15, demonstrating that the German retailer is focused on own-brand goods now more than ever. Aldi was not included in the survey as they have a limited range of branded goods.

Three weeks ago we undertook a price comparison of over-the-counter drugs. We were interested to see how prices compare to the growing range of medications available in Lidl. While Lidl worked out cheaper than the pharmacies by €0.06 for a 12 pack of Panadol, it was €0.40 more expensive than the Town Centre Pharmacy in Drogheda for Strepsils (24 pack). Once again, looks can be deceiving. Just because a shop looks like it sells the cheapest items, this isn’t always the case. It pays to shop around.

Observations

  • • This is the fourth time Irish Country Living has undertaken this price comparison since 2011. Over that time we have kept our shopping basket consistent so that we can compare the same products. We have visited the main shopping retailers in 13 of the 26 counties and have continued to see steady increases in the price of groceries
  • • Visually, pricing in Eurospar was very poor. While we only had to check one item at the till in one other shop, four items had to be checked at the till in the Eurospar we visited.
  • • Tesco was running the most special offers at the time of our price comparison, with eight of the 25 items selling at a reduced price.
  • • The most consistently priced item is Kerrygold (454g) which cost €2.95 in all six stores. Since we started our price survey in 2011, this has remained the same price.
  • • Not everything is rising in price. The cheapest tin of salmon in 2011 was €3.49, but last week we found it in Eurospar for €2.55
  • • We determine the cheapest store by accumulating the price of the shopping basket. However, we only calculate the items which can be identically compared in all shops

  • Shopping Trends

    What shopping trends have you embraced? The National Consumer Agency’s latest survey has shown that:

  • • Consumers are now spreading their shopping across a number of stores. This is particularly evident amongst younger people.
  • • There has been a further shift towards supermarket own-brand labels as consumers believe that the quality of own-brand products has improved.
  • • There is also a move towards home cooking, with 73% of respondents saying they are cooking more from scratch and 54% using less processed and ready-to-eat products. CL