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Lack of information hinders research unit price in the supermarket, says study

08/03/2013

This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.

 


 


Idec maintains that inform how much products cost per kilogram, liter or meter facilitate comparison of prices for consumer
 
RIO - For those who want to test their math skills, supermarkets can be a good place. In the section of hygiene, for example, is a challenge to calculate what toilet paper is worth taking among dozens of variations of packages with four, eight, 12, 16, 24 and 30 rolls of 30, 40 or 50 meters long - not to mention decorated and scented versions. Besides this, other products are offered in packages of diverse content, which makes comparison evaluates the Brazilian Institute for Consumer Defense (IDEC). If, in addition to the price of the product, the corresponding value was indicated by unit of measure, ie how much it costs per meter, liter or kilogram, everything would be easier, defends the institute.
 
To demonstrate the difficulty that Brazilian consumers face when shopping in supermarkets, Idec raised the prices of 185 goods from 59 brands, including food, drinks, toiletries and cleaning, and found the price variation between items of the same brand but with packs of different sizes and similar articles between different manufacturers.

The biggest price differences found are precisely among the same brand, especially in the case of beverages. Values per liter of mineral water and soft drinks vary more than 100% in most cases, considering the packing of individual bottles (500 ml water and soda cans of 350 mL, for example) and the bottles "family size "1.5 liter water and 2 liter soda or more.

Of course, the choice of products should not be based solely on price per unit, directs Idec. In a house with two people, for example, it makes sense to buy a soda from 3.3 liters, even if it is comparatively cheaper because the duo will hardly realize it before consuming the drink runs out of gas.

Also you can not take a bottle of 1.5 liter of water to the gym. But there are foods that are not perishable in the short term and other products whose practicality is not so relevant. In these cases, the difference in price as the package size is a consideration.

Idec's research seeks to guide consumers to make better choices when the criterion is price and promotions like before take three and pay two.

- The information of the price per unit of measure contributes to the consumer to make more accurate choices. Not always the bigger package is the most economical. Besides the price, consumers also need to assess their real needs - Ione points Amorim, Idec economist responsible for the survey.

As was done to search
We surveyed the prices of 185 products from 59 brands, including food, drinks, toiletries and cleaning, sold in different packaging. The survey was done on the site of three supermarket chains: Comper (present in Brasília, Campo Grande, Cuiaba-MT, MT-Várzea Grande, Itajai and Florianópolis-SC-SC), Extra (present in several states Southeast, Midwest and Northeast) and Probe (present in greater São Paulo and ABC).

The values were converted to units of measure corresponding (meter, liter or kg) so it could be made to compare products from the same brand and also on different brands.

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Source: The Globe - Online

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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.

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