Shopping in the supermarket is considerably more expensive in Austria than in Germany. An analysis published on Thursday by the Association for Consumer Information (VKI) showed price differences of up to an average of 20 percent. Food is rarely cheaper than in Germany.
The VKI attributes this to market concentration. The four largest chains share 95 percent of the market. At the same time, no other EU country has such a high settlement density.
Large price differences for dairy products
Depending on the retailer, Austria is on average 15 to 20 percent more expensive than Germany. The VKI noted large price differences, especially for dairy products. Natural yogurt in the cheap segment, but also organic, sometimes costs 50 to 70 percent more, regardless of whether it is a discount store or supermarket. Organic butter is 3 percent cheaper in Austria than in Germany, but cheap butter is 17 percent more expensive. A liter of whole milk costs 20 to 30 percent more.
The difference is also above average for pasta, for example: entry-level goods sometimes cost 25 percent more in this country than in Germany. In Italy, pasta is on average half cheaper than in Austria. However, the VKI could not make a general statement about Italy. The market overlap between the Austrian and Italian markets is too small and there are too few comparable products.
Prizes collected from 200 items
For the current ‘Consumers’ issue in November, the VKI collected the prices of approximately 200 items in supermarkets in the Austrian, German and Italian border areas. The consumer advocates compared prices in the relevant product segments on the one hand and at similarly selected retailers on the other. They compared Lidl Austria with Lidl Germany, Hofer with Aldi Süd, Spar with Globus and Billa+ with Edeka.
High location density and high market concentration
VKI sees the reason for the higher prices less in personnel costs, location density, topography or the organic content, but in the high market concentration in this country. This is inevitably accompanied by higher prices. The less competition, the higher the price level. Consumer advocates are pushing for more transparency. If retailers were to report price data to an independent body, a transparency database and apps could help achieve fairer prices.
According to experts, a high location density can also form a so-called market access barrier and in that sense be a consequence of the high market concentration.
High density of supermarkets in this country
According to hail insurance figures, Austria leads the EU rankings with 60 supermarkets per 100,000 inhabitants. In Germany there are 40 supermarkets per 100,000 inhabitants, in Italy and France only 28.
Supermarkets on the outskirts of the city with their parking lots are also one of the reasons for the high land consumption in Austria. However, the land consumption of trade not only has consequences for nature, it also drives up costs.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
