Getting a scare when seeing the prices once in the supermarket is avoidable. The escalation of food has triggered the activity of apps and platforms for comparing prices and discounts, with which to know in advance where it is cheaper to buy or which products are included in special offer or refund programs.
Broadly speaking, these are some of the ones that set the pace.
All offers, all brochures, in virtual format. Tiendeo has digitized the mailbox at home. The portal allows access to the brochures of the big chains, with more and more pull. Inquiries have skyrocketed for a few months. Toilet paper, ham, soft drinks... “As soon as the price of a product goes up, people come to see if they can find it cheaper. For example, searches for olive oil promotions have grown by 108% year-on-year and for beer by 26%”, they comment from the company. And if they have to move, they do it: a study of their own indicates that they are willing to travel up to 4 kilometers to go to the supermarket. In the end, the savings can be around 360-611 euros per year depending on the profile, they detail.
In comparison, Ofertia, Ofertero or Kimbino are other alternatives.
OCU Market allows you to search by product and offers a price map -updated daily- based on our situation to know where to buy it cheaper, with differences of up to 40%. Milk is the most consulted, they explain, followed by extra virgin olive oil and sunflower oil and other products such as sliced bread, vegetable drinks, fried tomato or breakfast cereals. As a bonus, some products include nutritional information.
Unloadings in October double the average for 2021. Savings can be 11% on some milks, 18% on oils and up to 40% on frozen fish.
One of the recent irruptions is Buo, which operates in some areas of Catalonia. "We were born in a very complicated time, everyone is looking for new ways to save," say a company source. The super online eliminates intermediaries, which lowers costs, and thus promises savings of 30%. "On average a family of 4 members can save about 160 euros per month, about 2,000 per year," they calculate. The initiative also has categories of "saved" products, surplus stock with greater discounts.
We must also value the apps of supermarket chains, which allow access to discounts and special programs, such as Lidl Plus or Mi Carrefour.
If the price is what is most looked at, the apps against food waste, with food packs that are not going to be sold or thrown away, are another support. "Consumers have become more aware of the value of food and the importance of not wasting it," they explain from Too Good to Go. Users grow at a rate of 10% weekly. Savings in supermarkets, restaurants, bakeries and more reach 70%.
For some, it cuts the basic budget: "It can replace and become a normal daily meal, or complement it." Thus, a third of what users consume comes from supermarkets, due to aesthetic imperfections or near expiration. With a weekly purchase you can save 300 euros a year in the supermarket, they calculate.
Others with a similar model are Phenix or Encantado de comerte, which operates in several cities.
Cashback is an increasingly widespread system in Spain that allows you to recover some of your spending. With the purchase of products of certain brands, cents are accumulated in a virtual wallet that, at a certain point, can be deposited in an account or withdrawn in cash. Normally the ticket is scanned after paying to access the bonuses. In Spain, Gelt stands out. Tiendeo, MyWorld, Widilo or BeRuby also stand out.
A market source, in any case, points out that although there is a lot of demand from the consumer side, the reluctance to invest by brands is growing due to the looming crisis.
