18 May 2006
Diemen
With budget airlines opening new routes monthly, travel in Europe has never been more accessible or affordable. It’s therefore useful for travellers to know how much their popular daily essentials will cost them when they get to their destination.
The twice-yearly ACNielsen Euro Price Barometer measures the cost of popular international grocery products across 16 countries in Europe.
“It’s useful to know and compare what your favourite grocery products will cost once you leave home. Depending on where you are travelling to, certain products can be more than double the cost in your local supermarket,” said Frank Martell, President and CEO ACNielsen Europe.
From the selected grocery items in this ‘travelers’ shopping list, the cheapest place to buy a large bottle of still mineral water is Switzerland – but it’s the most expensive place in Europe to buy a packet of potato crisps. A bottle of water in Switzerland costs €0.92, compared with Finland where the same bottle will cost you €2.09. And if you are travelling to Finland, don’t forget to pack disposable razors, where a packet will cost €6.05 compared to paying €2.59 for them in Germany.
Denmark is the most expensive place to buy a large bottle of soft drink, but Finland again, is where it will cost you more to buy a can of your favourite fizzy beverage. The cheapest places to buy a can of soft drink are the Netherlands and Spain. Chocoholics should stock up in Germany, the cheapest country to find international brand chocolates, while if you’ve a hankering for a bag of crisps, don’t hesitate to buy some in Denmark, which has the cheapest prices in Europe!
“While ACNielsen’s Euro Price Barometer has shown that grocery prices are slowly converging across Europe, for some products there is still considerable differences according to what country you do your shopping in. Factors that influence costs of an average grocery basket include geographical location, freight costs, sales tax, land cost and the retailer landscape of that country.
“The twice yearly ACNielsen Euro Price Barometer shows that Finland is the most expensive place in Europe for travellers to buy these selected items, while the cheapest countries to fill your grocery basket are Germany and the Netherlands, mainly due to the dominance of hard discounters such as Aldi and Lidl who are keeping prices competitive there,” noted Mr. Martell. Overall, when the Euro Price Barometer measured the full range and assortment of international branded products in European supermarkets – prices in Norway are the highest in Europe.
Figure 1. Click for enlargement
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