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fails to conclude that their market is achieving near to none turn over and that many of the prices are in fact out of date prices: these products have been waiting too long for customers and are costing the company in capital costs.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

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.

Inflationary pressures @ Lucky's? The results

The previous post gives an overview of prices @ Luckys as of today, 12 April, 2008. The list follows as much as possible the list as published on 7 February 2008 containing prices recorded in the period February 1-5, 2008. The exceptions are few and are from my own maintained list which was not fully published as some products had little value in the overall comparison. The Lucky prices were those that were recorded on February 5, 2008.

In this overview there are 66 products which are compared. The cost of these products on the 5 February was 132,95 $US. Today's prices are exactly 4 $ US more expensive or 3,01%. On the basis that between then and now are 66 days, then this corresponds to 16,6 % increase on an annual basis.

More expensive were the aforementioned Orchid butter (+72%) and Wall's vanilla ice cream / Mama's noodles hot cup (both +25%). Others were peanut butter, rice, chocolate products, dairy products, soybean oil and sugar. Two products became cheaper, salsa sauce and margarine.

However, quite noticeable were that cheaper products / smaller helpings increased in price. If the price for each product on February 5 2008 is considered to be 1, then the increase corresponds to 5,3% or on an annual basis 29,4 %!

Back in February I commented on how the price rise on annual basis at Lucky's was higher than 25%; it was actually 27,01%. So since then inflation has continued to stay high and become even higher.

Compared to the start of price observation prices on a limited number of products at Lucky's (17), prices have increased by 17%, which is huge on annual basis. So don't postpone your new year shopping!

Khmer New Year

It's Khmer New Year time of the year. Supermarkets are packed, staff are pissed off (at least at Lucky's) and there are spectacular prices to be had.

For instance butter, last week a packet of 227 gr was $1,90, yesterday an astonishing $3,10! Orchid (the packer in Thailand) used to be one of cheapest brands and is now by far the most expensive, at least $0,50 more expensive than other brands, even though there packets are slightly heavier.

How come? Who's profiting from this? And why doesn't the supermarket clearly indicate the change in price?

Who care's anyway?

February '08: results

A new year, but only in February the first overview! Doing ithe updates monthly is just too much effort, alas. Still the results do give a good overview, let's start with the overview of the respective supermarkets with the lowest possible price available.

Table 1.: Price level in comparison to minimum price available

	Nov 07	Ranking	Dec 07	Ranking	Feb 08	Ranking
Lucky	107,7	3	107,7	5	109,6	6
Pencil	109,9	5	109,8	6	107,2	3
Bayon	106,7	2	106,9	4	107,7	5
Thai Huot	105,5	1	105,8	2	106,0	2
Big A	109,5	4	106,7	3	107,3	4
Paragon Marketplace			105	1	105,6	1

As you can see Paragon Marketplace remains to have the best average price in comparison to the minimum price. Pencil's improved considerable, going from 6 to 3. Another worthwhile point is consistency: Thai Huot manages for the third time running to keep their prices between 105 and 106% of the lowest possible price available.

Table 2.: Price level in comparison to average price

	Nov 07	Ranking	Dec 07	Ranking	Feb 08	Ranking
Lucky	100,4	3	100,6	5	103,7	6
Pencil	101,1	4	102,7	6	100,2	5
Bayon	98,9	2	99,9	4	96,3	2
Thai Huot	93,2	1	98,1	1	94,7	1
Big A	101,5	5	99,5	3	100,0	4
Paragon Marketplace			98,5	2	99,0	3

The same supermarket, Thai Huot, remains to retain it's no.1 position: it's prices being below 95% of the average prices.

Table 3.: Percentage of products with lowest price

	Nov 07	Ranking	Dec 07	Ranking	Feb 08	Ranking
Lucky	32,3	3	34,2	4	35,4	5
Pencil	21,2	5	21,2	6	29,9	6
Bayon	52,0	1	30,6	5	38,7	3
Thai Huot	50,0	2	59,6	1	49,1	1
Big A	21,7	4	39,0	3	35,5	4
Paragon Marketplace			50,0	2	48,1	2

In the battle for overall products with the lowest price, the gap between no. 1 (Thai Huot) and Paragon Market place is getting smaller, while Pencil's remains last for the third time running.

Table 4.: Price change between December 15 2007 and February 2008

	Dec 07 - Feb 08
Lucky	3,84%
Pencil	1,20%
Bayon	2,18%
Thai Huot	2,29%
Big A	1,50%
Paragon	0,60%

Inflation: between 15 December 2007 and 5 February 2008 prices continued to rise. Lucky's with 3,84% (which would point to an inflation rate of nearly 25% on an annual basis!), while at Paragon Marketplace the prices only rose with 0,6%. From experience it seems that products in both Paragon Marketplace and Pencil's spend more time on the shelf, that means that the products remain the same price for a longer period, until the new batch arrives; the consequence is that some bargains are to obtained here. But when the new batches will arrive the price rises will be steep. In other supermarkets therises are usually just nudges here and there.

One thing which was very prominent is the fact that Lucky's raised the price of Nutella by over 50% from a price comparable to the competition (~3,50$US) to more than five dollars. I spent some time double checking this, but it is the reality. Why? A sudden rush on hazelnuts?
Other products which went up by hefty rises were Sunflower oil, 3 supermarkets registering rises of 30% or more. Locally produced Peanut Butter, at both Pencils as well as Paragon Marketplace recorded rises of 20 and 40% respectively.

Table 5.: Number of products on which the results are based

	Nov 07	Dec 07	Feb 08
Lucky	31	73	82
Pencil	33	71	87
Bayon	25	49	62
Thai Huot	22	47	57
Big A	23	59	65
Paragon Marketplace	-	58	77

February (5) '08: numbers

Just in time for Chinese New Year ...

Product	Specification	Price @ Lucky's	Price @ Pencil	Price @ Bayon	Price @ Thai Huot	Price @ Big A	Price @ Paragon
Tea bags	Lipton, packet, 100 bags	3,95	3,95	3,80	3,70	3,95	4,00
Tea bags	Twinnings, 25 bags	4,10	3,20	3,10	2,95
Instant Coffee	Nescafe Red Cup, jar, 200 gr		3,55	3,40	3,50	3,55	3,70
Coffee Cream	Nestle, Coffeemate, 50 bags	1,75	1,40	1,40	1,40		1,45
Ovaltine	jar, 200 gr	1,55	1,55	1,50		1,90	1,50
Peanut Butter	Healthland, locally produced, 440 gr	2,50	3,10			2,55	3,05
Peanut Butter	Ligo, 340 gr	1,80	1,95	2,10		1,95	1,95
Jam	Best Food Orange, 280 gr	1,10	1,15	1,15		1,20	1,10
Jam	Hero, Blackberry, jar, 340 gr	2,40	2,35			2,35
Hazelnut Cream	Nutella, jar, hazelnut cream 375 gr,	5,25	3,70	3,70	3,40	3,70
Peanuts	Tong garden, salted, 180 gr		0,90	0,90			0,90
Pretzels	Pringles	1,45	1,45	1,40	1,40	1,45	1,30
Cashew nuts	New Rain, Cambodian produced 100 gr, salted	1,35	1,35		1,35		1,30
Raisins	Ligo, carton, 312 gr.	1,30	1,30	1,30	1,30	1,25	1,35
Preservatives	S&W, Black beans, can, 432 gr.			1,30			1,50
Preservatives	Heinz Baked Beans, can		1,15	1,20	1,10
Flour	Red Lotus special, 1 kg		1,65			1,80	1,70
Flour	Prima top, 1 kg		2,20	2,00			2,20
Flour	Prima self raising, 1 kg			2,40	2,40	2,30	2,40
Eggs	10 pieces	0,95		1,20	1,20	1,00	0,95
Butter	Orchid, fresh, packet, 227 gr.	1,80		1,80			1,50
Magarine	Flora original, 500gr	3,90	3,40	3,10	3,10
Fresh milk	Dutch Mill, plastic bottle, 2 liter	3,80	3,70		3,40	3,70	3,65
UHT milk	Cowhead 1 ltr	1,60	1,55	1,50
UHT milk	Foremost 1 ltr	1,25			1,40	1,25	1,25
Yogurht	Dutch Mill, small cup, 150 ml	0,50	0,45	0,50	0,48	0,50	0,50
Dishwashing liquid	Sunlight, flacon, 900 gr	0,80	0,80	0,90		0,80	0,70
Green tea	Oisho, platic bottle, 0,5 ltr	0,60	0,60	0,65	0,60	0,60	0,55
Green tea	Zena, with lemon, 0,5 ltr	0,55	0,55	0,65	0,55	0,55	0,55
Cola	Coca Cola, can	0,40	0,35	0,35	0,30	0,35	0,35
Soda	Schweppes, bitter lemon, 0,33 ltr	0,60		0,60	0,60		0,60
Tang	Orange flavour, pack, 750 gr	2,75	2,90	2,60	2,70		3,85
Soy milk	Hagar, 6 packs (x180)	1,15	1,15	1,00	1,00		1,10
Fruit juice	Mallee, apple, 1 ltr.	1,60	1,60	1,60	1,65	1,55	1,60
Fruit juice	Mallee, orange, 1 ltr	1,60		1,95		1,75
Fruit juice	Berri, 2,4 ltr	2,90	2,85	2,80	2,80	2,85	2,85
Batteries	Duracell, AAA, 4 pieces	1,80		1,70	1,70	1,80
Sugar cubes	Hales, 500 gr	0,75	0,75	0,80	0,75	0,75
Sugar	Mitr Pohl, 1 kg	0,55	0,45	0,60
Sugar	Equal powder sachets, 50 x	2,40	2,40			2,40
Sweetened condensed milk	Bear Brand, 388 gr	0,70			0,70		0,70
Salt	Prung Thip 1 kg	0,45	0,50		0,50	0,50	0,50
Olive oil	Latino Bello, bottle, 1 ltr.		10,35			10,00	10,30
Sunflower Oil	Sunbeam, flacon, 1 ltr	2,70	2,70	2,70		2,70
Vegetable oil	Healthy Chef (soy) 0,75 ltr	1,35	1,40		1,40	1,35	1,30
Soy sauce	Maggi, Sprinkling and dipping sauce, 200 ml	0,70	0,70	0,70		0,70	0,70
Soy sauce	Golden Mountain, 600 ml seasoning sauce	1,10	1,00		1,10
Soy sauce	Kikoman, 150 ml		2,40	2,40	2,15	2,20	2,20
Mustard	Clovis, 200 gr jar	2,15	2,15	2,00			2,35
Slasa suace	Healthland, Cambodian produced, 215 gr jar	2,55	1,55				2,45
Coconut milk	Chaokoh, tin, 160 ml	0,50	0,45			0,35	0,35
Mayonaise	Best Foods, 220 gr jar		1,05	1,10		1,15
Tomato ketchup	KK 320 gr	0,50		0,60	0,70	0,60	0,60
Pesto Genovese	Barilla, 190 gr	3,90	3,90	3,90	4,20	3,90	3,85
Oatmeal	Quakers quickcook, 0,4 kg	2,45	2,80	2,50	2,60		2,75
Cheese	President, camembert, 125 gr		2,90				2,80
Cheese	Cowhead, 6 slices	1,10	1,10			1,10	1,10
Cheese	Kiri, 120 gr		2,20		2,15
Cheese	Emborg, Danish Brie	3,50	3,50		2,90	3,40	3,35
Cheese	Arla, Mozzarella, 200 gr		3,25	2,90	3,05
Cheese	La vache qui rit, triangles spreadable	1,80	1,95	1,65			1,75
Cheese	Lemnos, feta	5,10	4,70
Cheese	Bega mild 250gr		3,80	3,50	3,60
Cheese	Devondale, light & tasty, 250 gr	4,20	3,90			3,90	3,85
Toilet paper	Cellox, soft	0,90	0,90		0,85		0,90
Toilet paper	Scott, regular		1,00			1,00	1,00
Beer	Anchor, Cambodian produced, can, 0,33 ltr			0,60	0,60	0,55	0,55
Beer	Heineken, imported, can, 0,33 ltr	1,00	1,05	1,10	1,00	1,05	1,05
Diapers	Huggies Dry L20	4,70	5,10		4,90		4,80
Cornflakes	Kellog's, packet 275 gr	2,75	2,55			2,70	2,60
Instant formula	France BB 1, 400 gr	4,10	3,95	4,00		3,80	3,35
Instant formula	Lactogen 1, 0,9 kg	8,40	8,45	8,40	8,70		7,00
Instant formula	Similac 2, 400 gr	7,40	7,20	7,00
Instant formula	Foremost 1, 400 gr	4,10	3,90		3,80	3,35	3,35
Toothpaste	Colgate, 200 gr	0,95	0,95		1,00	1,00	1,00
Shampoo	Sunsilk, 400 ml,	3,30	3,30	3,20	3,20	3,20	2,80
Soap	Lux, 4x85 gr	1,05	1,10	1,10		1,00	0,95
Soap	Coast 3x		3,30			3,20	3,30
Deoderant	Rexona, 25 ml	1,00			1,05	1,00	1,00
	Whisper regular flow with wings, 8x		0,75		0,70	0,55	0,55
Pasta	Campagna, 500 gr spaghetti	1,00	1,05		1,00
Pasta	Barilla Fusulii	1,60	1,60	1,60	1,50	1,55	1,55
Pasta	Ricossa, Farfale		1,45	1,45		1,45	1,45
Instant noodles	Mama cup, 60 gr, pork	0,40	0,45	0,45		0,45
Rice	New Rain Organics, Cambodian produced, 1 kg	1,45	1,30	1,30	1,20	1,20	1,20
Frozen food	French Fries, Ligo, large		4,20		4,20
Ice Cream	Walls Vanilla, 60 gr	0,40			0,50	0,40	0,45
Ice Cream	Magnum Classic	1,40			1,20	2,30
Meat	Eurola, Salami, 100 gr		2,60	3,00		3,00	2,70
Meat	Spam can, 25% less sodium, 340 gr	3,80	3,10	3,80
Meat	Tulip, can, 340 ge, pork luncheon meat	1,80	1,85			1,90	1,85
Meat	Tuna chunks in vegetable oil, Roza, can 155 gr	0,80	0,80	0,70	0,95	0,80	0,70
Meat	Sardines, Ligo, 425 gr, can	1,25	1,20				1,15
Choclate	Mars, 60 gr	0,55	0,70				0,65
Chocolate	M&M's, 55 gr	0,55	0,70	0,60			0,65
Chocolate	Cadbury's raisins and nuts, 250 gr	3,80	3,50		3,50
Cookies	Oreo, 150 gr	0,95	0,90			0,95	0,90
Wine	Kelly's Promise, white		9,15				9,90
Wine	JD Chenet (small)	2,50					2,50
Vodka	Smirnoff Red 75 cl	6,20	6,50	6,20	5,80
Milk powder	Full Cream Cowhead, 900 gr, tin	14,60		10,60		12,90
Insecticide	Raid Multiinsect, 600 gr	2,25	2,25	2,20	2,20	2,30	2,30
Detergent	Breeze Colour, 650 gr	1,15	1,10			1,10	1,05
Fabric softener	Fineline, refill	0,60				0,60	0,60