Do you usually buy online? If you are one of those who prefer the comfort of the mouse to waiting and the hassles of queues at the supermarket, today we want you to reflect on something very important: prices. Do you think you pay the same buying over the Internet as doing it in the store? Well, in principle yes.
Prices should not vary, so that the purchase you make in a physical establishment should cost the same as if you make it from home or on your mobile, without having to step on the supermarket, beyond the shipping and preparation costs that all supermarkets add to order.
Some users have been complaining, through comments, about a disturbing fact. They point out that there are certain products that have a different cost, depending on whether they are bought in the supermarket of a lifetime or in the online store. That is why we wanted to check it out .
In this article we have chosen a total of ten products for two leading supermarkets: Mercadona and Carrefour . After checking the prices in the online store, we have stepped on a physical establishment to see if they are the same. And these have been the results.
We compare prices at Carrefour
One of the comments that we indicated pointed to the supposed difference in prices between some products that were bought in the Carrefour online store and the same, but purchased in the physical supermarket. We have chosen a total of ten products at random , all of top brands, and of daily consumption.
The surprise has been when verifying that these same products are a little more expensive in the online store than in the physical one. Although not all. Of the ten products tested, five are more expensive on the web. And curiously, they all have an identical increase: 10 cents more , which you would not pay if you had made the purchase in the physical supermarket in your city.
If we had bought the same products in the online store, the purchase would have been 50 cents more expensive. If we take into account that when we go to the supermarket we buy more than ten products, the increase can be considerable, if Carrefour follows the same policy of adding an extra 10 cents to certain items. To this must be added the 9 euros that you will not get rid of if you make the purchase online and that correspond to the shipping and preparation costs.
1. Heinz Ketchup 570 grams
Carrefour online store: € 2.65 / unit | Carrefour physical store: € 2.55 / unit
The first, in the front. The same bottle of Heinz Ketchup costs ten cents more in the online store. This is the same unit of 570 grams.
2. BEZOYA water: pack of 6 units
Carrefour online store: € 3.48 / pack | Carrefour physical store: € 3.48 / pack
3. Marbú Dorada Cookies
Carrefour online store: € 2.94 / pack offer 1 kilo | Carrefour physical store: € 2.94 / pack offer 1 kilo
4. Flor Classic concentrated fabric softener 72 washes
Carrefour online store: € 2.90 / unit | Carrefour physical store: € 2.90 / unit
5. Danonino strawberry flavor children's yogurt: pack of 6 units
Carrefour online store: € 1.09 / pack | Carrefour physical store: € 1.09 / pack
6. Lea & Perrins spicy sauce: 150 gram bottle
Carrefour online store: € 2.70 / unit | Carrefour physical store: € 2.59 / unit
The second product in which we detect a different price is Lea & Perrins Spicy Sauce. A 150-gram bottle that in the online store costs 11 cents more than in the Carrefour physical store that we go to.
7. Homemade chicken broth Gallina Blanca: pack indisvisible brick 1 liter
Carrefour online store: € 3.40 / unit (pack 2 indivisible) | Carrefour physical store: € 3.30
Now we are going with another product, curiously chosen at random, which has an increase of ten cents in the online store. In this case it is an indivisible pack of Gallina Blanca homemade chicken broth. Although in the establishment we visited it cost 3.30 euros, in the online store it costs 3.40 euros. It is 10 cents more expensive.
8. El Caserío Cheese: 24 portions
Carrefour online store: € 2.50 / unit | Carrefour physical store: € 2.40
This package of 24 portions of El Caserío is also more expensive if you buy it online. In Carrefour's online store it costs 2.50 euros, while in the supermarket we visited it costs 2.40 euros . Again we see a curious increase of 10 cents.
9. Dolce Gusto Intense Expresso Capsule: 16 capsules
Carrefour online store: € 4.25 / unit | Carrefour physical store: € 4.25
10. Dishwasher Fairy All-in-One machine (31 tablets)
Carrefour online store: € 6.00 / unit (31 pills) | Carrefour physical store: € 5.90 / unit (31 pills)
The last product in which we also detected an increase was this package of 31 Fairy machine dishwasher tablets, which on the web costs 6 euros and however, in the store it costs 5.90 euros. The increase is, again, 10 cents.
We compare prices at Mercadona
We have also gone to Mercadona and the results have been positive. All the products that we have chosen to compare, exactly the same (except for any change in the quantities or in the type) as in Carrefour. What we have been able to verify is that the prices that are reflected in Mercadona's online store are exactly the same as those that we can find in the physical store.
In this way, the buyer can be sure that they will pay the same whether they buy online or from the supermarket in their neighborhood. We must add, yes, the preparation and shipping costs, which in the case of the Juan Roig chain are always 7.21 euros for each purchase . There is no trap or cardboard there.
1. Heinz Ketchup 570 grams
Mercadona online store: € 2.39 / unit | Mercadona physical store: € 2.39 / unit
2. BEZOYA water: pack of 6 units
Mercadona online store: € 3.48 / pack | Mercadona physical store: € 3.48 / pack
3. Marbú Dorada Cookies
Mercadona online store: € 2.35 / pack 800 grams | Mercadona physical store: € 2.35 / pack 800 grams
4. Flor Classic concentrated fabric softener 72 washes
Mercadona online store: € 2.90 / unit | Mercadona physical store: € 2.90 / unit
5. Danonino strawberry flavor children's yogurt: pack of 6 units
Mercadona online store: € 1.09 / pack | Mercadona physical store: € 1.09 / pack
6. Lea & Perrins spicy sauce: 150 gram bottle
Mercadona online store: € 2.70 / unit | Mercadona physical store: € 2.70 / unit
7. Homemade chicken broth Gallina Blanca: 1 liter brick
Mercadona online store: € 1.80 / unit | Mercadona physical store: € 1.80 / unit
8. El Caserío Cheese: 24 portions
Mercadona online store: € 2.52 / unit | Mercadona physical store: € 2.52 / unit
9. Dolce Gusto Decaffeinated Intense Expresso Capsule: 16 capsules
Mercadona online store: € 4.25 / unit | Mercadona physical store: € 4.25 / unit
10. Dishwasher Fairy All-in-One machine
Mercadona online store: 4.50 / unit (25 pills) | Mercadona physical store: € 4.50 / unit (25 pills)
Conclusions
Our checks confirm that some products at Carrefour are more expensive online than at the physical store. And it is striking that this increase is always 10 cents. We can therefore say that out of ten products tested, five are more expensive on the web.
The same is not the case at Mercadona, at all . The price of the ten selected products is the same, both on the web and in the online store. In both cases, the price of the online purchase must be added to the shipping and preparation costs, which are 9 euros at Carrefour and 7.21 euros at Mercadona.
If you detect any other anomaly in the prices of the products, both these and others, you have the comments section open to tell us.