2021.03.15
Since its establishment, the "Supermarket Price Concern Group" (the Group) has been concerned about supermarket prices and has repeatedly urged the two major supermarket chains to offer direct rewards to the public in the form of a "30% discount on all items".
The Consumer Council recently released results of its investigation on price data of four large supermarket chains. DAB Deputy Secretary General and Convenor of the Group Frankie NGAN noticed that the unit price of some large-packaged goods may not be cheaper than smaller packages, the unit price of goods of the same brand but with different flavours varies by nearly 80%. Also, the prices of goods with the same net weight vary due to different packaging methods.
In fact, at an earlier press conference the Group already revealed the phenomenon of "magical price tags" which allegedly mislead consumers into believing that certain products are either on sale or touted as "bargain", "member price", "smart price", etc. The Consumer Council's investigation further revealed supermarket chains are using different tactics to make consumers pay more and which is unacceptable.
Frankie NGAN urges the Consumer Council and the Customs and Excise Department to formulate a reference guideline for supermarkets on labelling unit prices so as to avoid price differentiation of the same product in same supermarket chain but different outlets. In addition, all four supermarket chains involved in the investigation received huge amount of subsidies under the “Employment Support Scheme” yet the general public cannot benefit. The Group reiterates direct rewards in form of a "30% discount on all items" are the most direct and simple way to plough back into the public.