Supermarkets are growing in number in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. While the old ones open new branches to capture higher percentage of the market, new ones are springing up to serve more customers. Yet, many shoppers are not able to discern their hidden shortcomings. In this report, Newspeakonline.com’s PATRICK AKPU AND ESTHER OLOWOYEYE analyze four top supermarkets from the point of pricing to guide shoppers who desire to buy more for less prices.
Gone are the days when shopping at a supermarket where you pay more is an indication of higher status. Shopping now entails making smart choices and getting more for less. As a matter of fact, the big stores now pitch “low prices” as their unique selling propositions though many shoppers are unable to confirm this.
So, with all the supermarkets claiming to offer the best prices, which ones actually mean what they offer? Finding such retail outlets with affordable prices can thus be a challenge to shoppers, especially in Ibadan, where new stores are springing up and already existing ones are opening new branches in order to reach buyers at their convenience.
But because shoppers place price above convenience, Newspeakonline went out to conduct a product and price research in some of the major stores in Ibadan. Prices of items at popular supermarkets including FoodCo, Shoprite, Feedwell and Grandex were sampled. The focus was on popular daily beverages, food items, drinks and baby products.
The items shoppers mostly visit stores for, on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, include Johnnie walker red label wine700 (ml), Hennessy cognac vs 700(ml), Baileys Irish ice cream, Chamdor Non- Alcoholic wine, J&W premium Non-alcoholic wine, Molfix baby diapers (small), Pampers baby diapers (small), Nestle Cerelac baby food, Sunlight detergent 900g, Bounty Chocolate, Snickers chocolate, Mars Chocolate, Lipton tea bag, Nestle milo (500g) refill, Golden Morn 500g, Tom-tom all flavours , Heinz tomato ketchup 300g, Heinz salad cream 285g, Titus sardine, Ola-ola Poundo yam flour(1kg ), Golden penny Semovita (1kg), Close-up deep action toothpaste, Nivea roll on, Pringles big all flavours, Easy on spray starch, Jacobs cream crackers, Mcvities short bread, Nasco cornflakes 500(g).
Out of all the items mentioned above, 22 were identified at Shoprite, 24 at Foodco, 17 at Grandex, while 32 were identified in Feedwell.
Price comparison
The table below shows the prices of the items identified at the four supermarkets.
The price table above shows that the stores are competing for shoppers attention, having their strengths in different items. But those with the sweet tooth, going for the candies and chocolate may prefer Feedwell which obviously parade the lowest prices for those items like chocolates and biscuits.
Beverages buyers are sure of good deals in Feedwell and Shoprite considering the fact that Nestle Milo and Peak milk are at their lowest prices at these stores. The price of Hienz salad cream is even too attractive to ignore at N625 compared to the next lowest price which is N950 at Grandex.
Feedwell seems to favour lowest prices for small items and baby products, targeted at low income shoppers. The price table shows that the store has lower prices for products like the small packs of Molfix and Pampers baby diapers as well as Nestle Cerelac baby food.
The prices of wines and liquors, which are mostly imported, are pretty on the high side in major stores and markets. But Feedwell tries to maintain the lowest price even though many shoppers usually throng Shoprite because of the ambience and recreational atmosphere.
A careful look at the price table shows that Foodco comes next to Feedwell in terms of price even though it has other strengths which are however not the subject of this article.
Grandex may seem to parade higher prices, but a walk into the supermarket offers some other experience which some shoppers may enjoy, and which they may not find in other stores.
The subject of this article is price. It does not negate the fact that price is just one of the many factors of a good shopping experience.
Overall, Feedwell offers wider price advantage over other supermarkets, as clearly indicated in the price table. It also stocks wider range of wines and liquors in its branches which others don’t stock. So, if price advantage and varieties of products are your top considerations, Feedwell Supermarket will do.
