SUPERMARKET PRICES SHOULD BE AVAILABLE ONLINE

halpide · 10-02-2011 9:11pm #1

How come anyone can go online and research the price of home heating oil, house insurance, car insurance and various other products and services that we use, yet we cannot do the same to find out the price of groceries etc. without going in so a store. If all supermarket prices were published online then you could decide what you were going to buy in each supermarket before you go shopping, based on price.

The supermarkets wouldn't be in favour, but maybe it's time for legislation that compels them to publish weekly prices on their websites.

10-02-2011 9:14pm

Legislation? Seriously?
Do you not think the incoming government will have enough to be doing with themselves?

drunkmonkey · 10-02-2011 9:16pm

Huge amount of work to keep prices up to the minute, they can change anytime during the day.

Not worth it for every supermarket to do it. No demand for it besides yourself.

daenerysstormborn3 · 10-02-2011 9:27pm

In fairness a lot of supermarkets offer online shopping and it is a fairly reliable way to check prices before you shop. Yes, they do say that the price may change between order and delivery but in general the prices do not change (speaking from experience) and if they do it's usually only a few cents, obviously if you are checking the prices online and then shopping immediately afterwards you have a good chance of not being caught by huge price changes.

Atlantic Dawn · 10-02-2011 9:29pm

SuperQuinn and Tesco have all their prices online.

Cabaal · 10-02-2011 9:37pm

legislation?
I can think of many many things that are more important

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 10-02-2011 10:05pm

All is well with the world if that's a priority with you.

Any idea what resources would be required to keep the prices of every product in every store updated? And why? Have you tome to go online and check all prices for a weekly shop? Well for you!

Guy:Incognito · 10-02-2011 10:23pm

Why should there be legislation? These are private businesses and can put their prices onlien if they want, if they dotn want to then fine. If you start forcign them to do that then why not every business?

MistyCheese · 11-02-2011 10:33am

I AGREE WITH BARRY SCOTT!!

11-02-2011 11:19am

Superquinn & Tesco are online and dunnes are meant to be launching online soon.

But also, supermarkets are in every decent size town in the coountry and its free to call in and do your own comparisons.

MitchKoobski · 12-02-2011 10:47am

Prices can change at any time
Offers can show up any day, can be added at whim by a manager in some shops
Whenever a price changes or an offer changes the webmaster would have to be contacted to change the site details.
If the website lists an offer price that was up at 11pm friday, but changed in store 8am saturday, the webmaster wont have time to change the details on the site and people will complain and try to claim false advertising.
List goes on tbh. Its better just to list special offers for the week on the site tbh, or just shop online as it is.

krudler · 12-02-2011 12:56pm

good christ, you'd seriously sit online going through everything on your weekly shop list to match the prices? I'd rather spend the few cents in the difference here and there and keep the time I'd lose from my life doing that to begin with.

ejmaztec · 12-02-2011 1:14pm

The OP should set up his/her own website and recruit volunteers to scour the supermarkets each day, so that the price of every single item known to mankind can be up-dated on the site.

Good luck with your new venture Halpide.

slimjimmc · 12-02-2011 1:23pm

MitchKoobski wrote: »

Prices can change at any time

Offers can show up any day, can be added at whim by a manager in some shops

Whenever a price changes or an offer changes the webmaster would have to be contacted to change the site details.

If the website lists an offer price that was up at 11pm friday, but changed in store 8am saturday, the webmaster wont have time to change the details on the site and people will complain and try to claim false advertising.

List goes on tbh. Its better just to list special offers for the week on the site tbh, or just shop online as it is.

No need for all that. Just link it to the POS system, every shop with a barcode scanner has one. Web prices could be automatically updated as soon as the POS is updated, but of course there should be a disclaimer saying prices subject to change. Integration may not be simple because of various POS systems but it could be done. The question is will it be worth it to the shop.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 12-02-2011 5:53pm

slimjimmc wrote: »

Integration may not be simple because of various POS systems but it could be done. The question is will it be worth it to the shop.

The real question is: would anybody care. Who has nothing else to do but look up grocery prices across a range of store?

halpide · 14-02-2011 6:55pm

Destiny Little Drummer wrote: »

All is well with the world if that's a priority with you.

Any idea what resources would be required to keep the prices of every product in every store updated? And why? Have you tome to go online and check all prices for a weekly shop? Well for you!

Tesco & Superquinn can put their prices online so it obviously doesn't require that many resources. A survey by the National Consumer Agency found a diff of 18% on a limited basket of 20 items. Translate that to a weekly family shop of €200 and it amounts to a saving of €36 per week or, in excess of €1800p.a. Wouldn't expect to save that on a family shopping basket but would be happy saving half that.

MissFlitworth · 14-02-2011 8:52pm

halpide wrote: »

Tesco & Superquinn can put their prices online so it obviously doesn't require that many resources.

That's a bit of a silly equation - Tesco & Superquinn both offer online shopping which is why they have prices online. It's not something they do to be helpful and it does take up quite a few resources to do so. There's no way something like this should be forced upon any shop. What's stopping you from checking a few shops for prices or having a maximum price you'll pay for an item and sticking to it so that you stay in budget?

halpide · 14-02-2011 11:07pm

MissFlitworth wrote: »

What's stopping you from checking a few shops for prices or having a maximum price you'll pay for an item and sticking to it so that you stay in budget?

That's the whole point of having prices online so that, before you go in to a shop, you know the prices of the products that you want to buy and then you go to the next shop that has the products you want at the price you are willing to pay.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 15-02-2011 11:08am

Come off it! Are you going to Tesco for the Beans and Teabags, Superquinn for the Tomato Ketchup and Bin Liners, Dunnes for the Rich Tea Biscuits and Toilet Rolls, Supervalue for the eggs, etc?

You're having a laugh or have too much time on your hands!

jimoc · 15-02-2011 4:52pm

Destiny Little Drummer wrote: »

Come off it! Are you going to Tesco for the Beans and Teabags, Superquinn for the Tomato Ketchup and Bin Liners, Dunnes for the Rich Tea Biscuits and Toilet Rolls, Supervalue for the eggs, etc?

You're having a laugh or have too much time on your hands!

Have you been following me?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 15-02-2011 4:54pm

jimoc wrote: »

Have you been following me?

jimoc · 15-02-2011 5:06pm

Destiny Little Drummer wrote: »

I do exactly what you describe here, but stagger it over different days,
Go to shop one for things I know are cheaper there, check the prices of other stuff and then go to shop two for the things I know are cheaper there etc.

I do it during lunch from work, walk from shop to shop, get exercise and save a few quid.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 15-02-2011 9:09pm

jimoc wrote: »

I do exactly what you describe here, but stagger it over different days,
Go to shop one for things I know are cheaper there, check the prices of other stuff and then go to shop two for the things I know are cheaper there etc.

I do it during lunch from work, walk from shop to shop, get exercise and save a few quid.

More power to you but I'm too busy and my time too important to waste it like that.

pleasant Co. · 16-02-2011 4:34pm

Destiny Little Drummer wrote: »

More power to you but I'm too busy and my time too important to waste it like that.

Clearly you are not, based on your posts in this thread and the valuable time you've wasted on them.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 16-02-2011 4:58pm

Mactard wrote: »

Clearly you are not, based on your posts in this thread and the valuable time you've wasted on them.

10 seconds to post a comment!!!:rolleyes:

pleasant Co. · 16-02-2011 5:15pm

Destiny Little Drummer wrote: »

10 seconds to post a comment!!!:rolleyes:

but you're so busy and your time is very valuable, all those 10's of seconds add up...you've got over 2500 posts :rolleyes:

I'm sure you don't waste too much time reading boards either :rolleyes:

ch750536 · 17-02-2011 10:07am

avoiding sarcasm...
Many people don't have the option of not shopping around, and they have plenty of time on their hands. Lets not rub their face in it eh.

Del2005 · 17-02-2011 12:18pm

ch750536 wrote: »

avoiding sarcasm...
Many people don't have the option of not shopping around, and they have plenty of time on their hands. Lets not rub their face in it eh.

I've they've plenty of time on their hands then they will have plenty of time to walk around each shop checking the prices, no need to check online.

SUPERMARKET PRICES SHOULD BE AVAILABLE ONLINE

Comments