“Jumbo online 11 % cheaper than Colruyt”

Price differences between Belgian Colruyt and Dutch Jumbo can be significant, data specialist Daltix reported on the RetailDetail Food Congress. Both companies offer a lowest price guarantee, and will meet when the Dutch chain expands to Belgium next year.

Different day by day

In the basket of 600 brand products in the comparison, 74 % is cheaper at Jumbo, 24 % was cheaper at Colruyt en 2 % cost the same at both shops. The average price difference was 11 %, but there were huge differences depending on the day. As both companies stick with their lowest price guarantee, they (have to) change their prices very quickly. The test only features products by major brands, as they are easier to compare than private label products.

Colruyt is rather unhappy with the analysis and says the basis for the comparison is wrong, as it compared Colruyt’s pick-up point in Halle with Jumbo’s web shop prices. “We have been monitoring price levels at Jumbo’s and our stores near the border”, says marketing director Guy Elewaut, “and we have seen that our prices are about the same than Jumbo’s for major brands’ products.”

The news that Jumbo comes to Belgium next year has caused some unrest at Belgium’s market leader Colruyt. However, it remains to be seen if Jumbo will be able to wield the same prices in Belgium as in the Netherlands. Daltix’ Jonas Deprez explains: “In the Netherlands, it is allowed to sell products at a loss – in Belgium it isn’t. Moreover, there are differences in VAT and other taxes. Earlier, we proved that Albert Heijn is 3 % cheaper in the Netherlands than it is in Belgium.