May 2008: Prices going up

Much is said about inflation and some of us may have realized this in cases whereby certain products have risen sharply.But to put into perspective we here at the Priceisright.Cambodia have used the latest price data to present the following overview:

	Lucky's	Thai Huot
Nov '07-May '08	17,4%	9,3%
on annual basis	34,6%	18,6%
no. of products	21	15
Dec '07-May '08	14,0%	7,6%
on annual basis	33,3%	18,1%
no. of products	53	37
Feb-May '08	8,3%	5,7%
on annual basis	30,4%	21,2%
no.of products	61	45

With two of Phnom Penh's most popular supermarkets as reference, it's easy to see that inflation is high. Between November 2007 and May 2008 prices rose by 17,4 % at Lucky's while Thai Huot registered just under half that figure, 9,3%. Doubling these figures gives an annual estimate. An estimate, because we do not contend that the numbers we came up with are the exact numbers; they provide an indication. This is specially apparent in the overview November-May: not many products are included, thus December-May is a more accurate estimate. Still these figures are near those of November-May.

When these numbers are recalculated to an annual number, it's surprisingly to see, Lucky's numbers dropping (from 34,6% to 30,4%, on an annual basis), while those of Thai Huot are going up (from 18,6% to 21,2%). Though still considerable difference between the two.

Not to be deduced from this table are the numbers over the April-May period for Lucky, which add up to more than 50% (53,3%, based on 48 products) on an annual basis, so the price rises slowing is most probably a temporary thing.

The reality? Orchid butter has gone from $1,35 to $3,10, Sunflower oil from $1,90 to $3,20 between November and May @ Lucky's, President Camembert from $3,20 to $4,75 and Cadbury's chocolate from $3,40 to $3,90 between December and May 2008. At Thai Huot Schweppes Bitter Lemon has gone from $0,55 to $0,75, Arla Mozarella from $2,90 to $3,50 between November and December, Soybean oil from $1,40 to $1,90 and Sunsilk shampoo from $3,20 to $3,55 between December and May 2008.

More recent increases have been Feta cheese (Lemnos from $5,10 to $6,60), toilet paper (Cellox, from $0,90 to $1,10) and teabags (Lipton, from $3,95 to $4,30) at Lucky's during the past month. Over at Thai Huot more recent rises over the February-May time frame have been Nescafe (from $3,50 to $4,10) and rice (New Rain from $1,20 to $1,40).

May '08: the results

It's just over 3 months since the last Phnom Penh supermarket comparison. In the meantime there's much been said on inflation. So much so, that we warrant this a separate entry, later this week. Let's just concentrate what's available today.
In this comparison four supermarkets were compared, Lucky's being the market leader in size and Thai Huot the cheapest supermarket. Additionally brought into the comparison were survey newcomers Sydney, which claims to have the largest selection and BS supermarket, situated in it's own department store.

Table 1:Price level in comparison with minimum price

	May '08	Ranking
Lucky's	109,6%	4
Sydney	107,6%	3
BS	103,7%	1
Thai Huot	104,5%	2

When comparing to the minimum available price in the 4 supermarkets, it's clear that both the BS supermarket and Thai Huot are much cheaper than their larger competitors. This is also obvious when prices are compared to the average price, where the findings are roughly the same.

Table 2.: Price level in comparison to average price

	May '08	Ranking
Lucky's	102,5%	4
Sydney	100,8%	3
BS	96,7%	1
Thai Huot	97,9%	2

Strange these findings, especially considering that Lucky's is the market leader and on basis of it's turnover, it should be able to charge the cheapest prices; at least not being the most expensive. BS supermarket though is the smallest and should have the more expensive prices.
A possible explanation is that BS management fails to conclude that their market is achieving near to none turn over and that many of the prices are in fact out of date prices: these products have been waiting too long for customers and are costing the company in capital costs. Solution: just wait until these products are so cheap that they'll sell themselves? In the meantime go to BS for cheap Coca Cola, cooking oil, sweeteners and rice. Co-incidentally or not, all products which have been raised considerably during the past months.

Table 3.: Percentage of products with lowest price

	May '08	Ranking
Lucky's	38,5%	3
Sydney	33,3%	4
BS	59,4%	2
Thai Huot	69,4%	1

Finally, a word of caution as always. The survey is not an absolute overview, it does however show trends. Lucky's is more expensive than the Thai Huot market. At the same time Lucky's also has much more choice. See table four for instance. Lucky's comparison is based on 65 products double that of BS.

Table 4.: Number of products on which the results are based

	May '08
Lucky's	65
Sydney	57
BS	32
Thai Huot	49

Cambodia supermarket prices: the May 15 comparison data

Product	Specification	Price @ Lucky's	Price @ Sydney	Price @ BS	Price @ Thai Huot
Tea bags	Lipton, packet, 100 bags	4,30	4,50	4,60	3,95
Instant coffee	Nescafe Red Cup, jar, 200 gr	4,10	4,10	4,20	4,10
Coffee	Nestle, Coffee mate, 50 bags	1,75	1,60	1,50	1,55
Ovaltine	jar, 200 gr	1,60	1,70	1,60
Peanut Butter	jar, local 440 gr	3,05	3,00
Jam	Best Food, Orange, jar, 280 gr	1,50	1,10	1,10
Nutella	jar, hazelnut cream, jar 375 gr,	5,25			3,90
Peanuts	Tong garden, salted, 180 gr	0,90	0,90
Pretzels	Pringles	1,45	1,45
Raisins	Ligo, carton, 312 gr.	1,30			1,30
Preservatives	Heinz Baked Beans, 420 gr	1,35			1,10
Eggs	10 pieces	0,95	1,05		1,05
Butter	Orchid, fresh, packet, 227 gr.	3,10	2,00
Magarine	Flora original, 500gr	3,30	3,50		3,10
Fresh milk	Dutch Mill, plastic bottle, 2 liter	4,05			3,70
Fresh milk	Meiji, plastic bottle, 2 liter	4,05	4,20
UHT milk	Foremost 1 ltr	1,45	1,50	1,50	1,40
Yogurht	Dutch Mill, small cup, 150 ml	0,55	0,55	0,55	0,50
Dishwashing liquid	Sunlight, flacon, 900 gr	0,90	0,95	0,90	1,00
Green tea	Oisho, platic bottle, 0,5 ltr	0,65	0,70	0,60	0,60
Cola	Coca Cola, can	0,40	0,35	0,30	0,35
Soda	Schweppes, bitter lemon, 0,33 ltr	0,60	0,65		0,75
Tang	Orange flavour, pack, 750 gr	2,55			2,70
Drinking water	Eurotech (local), 0,5 ltr, bottle	0,25	0,20	0,15	0,20
Drinking water	Minere, 0,5 ltr, bottle	0,35	0,35		0,35
Fruit juice	Mallee, orange, 1 ltr	2,00	2,00	2,00	1,95
Fruit juice	Berri, 2,4 ltr	3,30	3,20	3,40	3,15
Batteries	Duracell, AAA, 4 pieces	1,80			1,70
Sugar cubes	Hales, 500 gr	0,85	0,85		0,80
Sugar	Mitr Pohl, 1 kg	0,60	0,65	0,55	0,70
Sugar	Equal powder sachets, 50 x	2,75	2,80	2,50
Salt	Prung Thip 1 kg	0,50	0,50		0,50
Olive oil	Latino Bello, bottle, 1 ltr.	11,75	10,20	9,50
Sunflower Oil	Sunbeam, flacon, 1 ltr	3,20	3,20
Vegetable oil	Healthy Chef (soy) 0,75 ltr	1,85	2,00	1,50	1,90
Soy sauce	Maggi, Sprinkling and dipping sauce, 200 ml	0,80			0,80
Soy sauce	Kikoman	2,30	2,40		2,15
Mustard	Clovis, 200 gr jar	2,15	2,20
Coconut milk	Chaokoh, tin, 160 ml	0,50	0,35
Mayonaise	Best Foods, 220 gr jar	1,25	1,25	1,20
Tomato ketchup	KK 320 gr	0,60	0,65		0,70
Cheese	Kiri, 120 gr	2,90			2,20
Cheese	Arla, Mozzarella, 200 gr		3,70		3,50
Cheese	La vache qui rit, triangles spreadable	2,00	2,00		1,90
Cheese	Devondale, light & tasty, 250 gr	4,20	4,75
Toilet paper	Cellox, soft	1,10	1,00	1,20	1,00
Beer	Anchor, Cambodian produced, can, 0,33 ltr	0,60	0,60		0,60
Beer	Imported, Heineken, can, 0,33 ltr	1,20	1,20		1,00
Diapers	Huggies Dry m22	5,10	5,40	5,50	4,90
Instant formula	Lactogen 1, 0,9 kg	9,30	8,70	8,85	8,70
Instant formula	Foremost 1, 400 gr	4,40	3,90	4,20	3,80
Toothpaste	Colgate, 200 gr		1,00	1,00	1,00
Shampoo	Sunsilk, 91 ml,	0,55	0,55	0,60
Soap	Lux, 4x85 gr	1,20	1,10	1,20
Deoderant	Rexona, 25 ml	1,10	1,00	1,00	1,05
Deoderant	Fa, 50 ml		1,50	1,20	1,30
	Whisper regular flow with wings, 8x		0,65	0,50
Pasta	Campagna, 500 gr spaghetti	1,35			1,20
Pasta	Barilla Fusulii	1,60	1,60		1,70
Instant noodles	Mama cup, 60 gr, pork	0,50	0,50	0,55
Rice	New Rain Organics, 1 kg	1,60	1,50	1,40	1,40
Frozen food	French Fries, Ligo, large		5,00		4,20
Ice Cream	Magnum Classic	1,50			1,40
Meat	Tulip, can, 340 ge, pork luncheon meat	2,15	2,40
Meat	Tuna chunks in vegetable oil, Roza, can 155 gr	0,85	0,90
Chocolate	Cadbury's raisins and nuts, 250 gr	3,90			3,70
Vodka	Smirnoff Red 75 cl	6,30			5,80
Insecticide	Raid Multiinsect, 600 gr	2,30		2,30	2,60
Detergent	Breeze Colour, 650 gr	1,20	1,20	1,10	1,20
Fabric softener	Fineline, refill	0,60	0,65

Company policy?

Being a consumer in Cambodia has it's down sides. Service generally is average to poor, product range lacks and changes every week, access ispoor and .... information on prices is zero.

This site has been changing this last aspect with regular features on PhnomPenh's supermarkets and the prices they charge. We at priceisright.cambodia do not contend that this research is reality, though we do believe the trends we present are very similar to the reality.

So to do this research we need a realistic overview and be beware of not making mistakes in the calculation and/or presentation. In many countries these kinds of overviews are done by consumer organisations. Not here, as there are none.

And now even collecting data is becoming impossible. You would think that Lucky supermarkets ("where quality comes first") has nothing to lose by disclosing their pricing data to the general public. If you are the market leader and in stiff competition with other local retailers, price is a great opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competition.

However, despite having more customers and thus having more advantage in pricing options, Lucky supermarkets has not excelled in this aspect. Actually it is one of the more expensive supermarkets. That need not be a problem if for instance choice is larger (the case), service is better (not the case) or giving away cash prices (every $1000 spent gets you $30, i.e. 3% discount) leads to a better price comparison (the case).

But back to today. This morning one of our surveyors was kindly asked: 'what are you writing'. She answered: 'why do you need to know?'. Employee: 'Due to company policy, it is not allowed to write in our supermarkets'.

What a strange company policy! So consumers are not allowed to collect information? Why not? Have Lucky Supermarkets something to hide? Or are they afraid, that the public will know that Lucky's are overcharging?

Anyhow, in the upcoming days, new revelations both on price comparison (Lucky's vs. Thai Huot vs. BS vs. Sydney) as well as on price rises.