We are comfortable grocery shopping in our usual supermarket which is often close to home or work. However, if you are trying to spend less and save more this year, maybe a look at the grocery store 5 minutes further can help. Yes, true enough individually, the price difference seems miniscule especially but when you add up the basket on a weekly basis, don’t be surprised that you can save as much as 10-15% every week!
In order to give you further insight on the matter, Souqalmal.com compared prices of 11 everyday products you would usually buy from your supermarkets in Dubai. The stores we selected for comparison were Carrefour, Union Coop and Spinneys.
We discovered that out of the three supermarkets, you would pay the least at Union Coop for all the 11 products followed by Carrefour. However, the price difference between Carrefour and Union Coop was just AED 0.8.
Spinneys was the most expensive supermarket for all 11 products where the total bill was 11.2% higher than Union Coop.
Care products such as shampoo and baby diapers had the largest price disparity between the three supermarkets. Pampers at Union Coop were AED 5.75 cheaper compared to Spinneys and AED 1.75 cheaper than Carrefour.
Amongst the cleaning products category, detergent was cheapest at Carrefour and was 15.4% less in price compared to the same detergent in Spinneys.
Milk and what looks like the basic food such as flour and sugar were almost the same price in all three supermarkets. So for baking a cake, potentially all three supermarkets would do.
Table: Shopping list products and prices (AED)
| Product | Carrefour | Union Coop | Spinneys |
| Milk Al Rawabi 2L | 10.00 | 10.00 | 10.00 |
| White bread | 3.75 | 3.95 | 5.00 |
| Flour Al Baker 1Kg | 4.15 | 4.15 | 4.25 |
| Rice Tilda 2 Kg | 32.50 | 30.50 | 32.25 |
| Sugar SIS 1 kg | 4.50 | 4.75 | 5.75 |
| Cheese Kraft Spreadable 240 g | 8.25 | 8.20 | 9.00 |
| Baby diapers Pampers3 46 pieces | 38.5 | 36.75 | 42.50 |
| Shampoo Head & Shoulders Classic 400 ml | 17.75 | 17.95 | 20.75 |
| Detergent Ariel 3 Kg | 32.50 | 33.40 | 37.50 |
| Fairy Liquid 750 ml | 9.30 | 9.75 | 10.75 |
| Pasta Panzani Fusilli | 5.50 | 6.50 | 6.75 |
| Total | 166.70 | 165.90 | 184.50 |
Keeping these findings in mind, consider the following scenario. If on average you were to buy these 11 products twice a month you can save up to AED 38 for the month and that is only on the 11 basic products. Generally weekly shopping amount to a few hundreds a week!
However, for a fair comparison, you have to keep in mind factors such as product availability and personal preferences. You can also use a credit card with cashback facility and save.
If you wish to find out prices of other products in supermarkets, check out Dubai Government’s web portal Sallety.ae. It allows consumers to view prices of products in different supermarkets. Through this portal you can also stay up to date on latest offers and register complaints. In fact, there is even a mobile app available making it convenient for customers to access information.
At the end of the day, comparing prices before buying always help you save money.