Finding retail outlets with fairly affordable goods can be a challenge for shoppers in a fast growing city like our nation’s capital, Abuja.

To help, PREMIUM TIMES carried out an analysis of the prices of commodities in major supermarkets in the FCT.

Sampled stores were Shoprite, Sahad Stores, H-Medix, Next Cash and Carry and SPAR, and the focus was on food items, drinks, toiletries, and electronics.

Please note, the survey was done in middle of January 2018, and some of the listed prices would have changed now.

Food Items

The food items used for the survey are: Milo beverage, 320 grams; Golden Morn, 1 kilogram; Milo 500 gram refill pack; Peak Evaporated milk tin, 410 grams; Lipton Tea 25 bags; Maryland cookies; McVities short bread pack of 14; Ola Ola 2, 267 kilograms; Indomie noodles chicken flavour 70 grams; large Exeter Corned beef 340g; Heinz sachet Tomato paste; Heinz ketchup 300  milli litres; Royco Seasoning Cubes, 470 grams; Spice Supreme Spices; Grand Pure Soya Oil, 3.75 litres and Jago Mayonnaise 946 millilitres.

Analysis

Based on the analysis of the food items at the five selected supermarkets, Sahad Stores has the cheapest selling prices for 63 per cent of the items (10 of 16), Next Cash and Carry has the cheapest selling prices for 38 per cent (six out of 16) of the items, and SPAR has the cheapest selling price for none of the items.

H-Medix has the cheapest selling rates for six per cent (one of 16) of the items and Shoprite has the cheapest rates for 13 per cent (two of 16) of the items.

The selling prices also show that Shoprite has the highest prices for 50 per cent (eight of 16) of the food items aforementioned. Shoprite is followed by H-Medix which has the highest selling prices for 19 per cent (3 of 16) of the food items, Next Cash and Carry has the highest selling prices for 13 per cent (two of 16) of the items, and Sahad Stores had the highest selling price for six per cent (one of 16) of the items. SPAR has the highest selling prices for none of the goods.

Toiletry section of H-Medix

The analysis also revealed that the supermarket with the lowest selling prices of food items is Sahad Stores followed by Next Cash and Carry, SPAR, H-Medix and Shoprite respectively.  Therefore, Shoprite is the most expensive store to buy food items in Abuja.

See Price list below

List of food items

Toiletries

For toiletries, we considered Safeguard small bar soap, Safeguard big bar soap, Irish spring pack of three, Close-up toothpaste, Oral B Toothpaste, Premier Family Bar large, Dettol liquid antiseptic 500 millilitres, Platinum Always Ultra pads (Single pack), Always Ultra Pads (Single pack), Always Ultra Classic Thick, Nivea body lotion 400 ml, Morning fresh 900 grams, Mortein 300 grams, Jik 500 millilitres, Ariel Automatic 1kilogram, and Hapic 450 millilitres.

From the analysis, Sahad Stores has the lowest prices of about 53 per cent (nine out of 17) of the toiletries, Next Cash and Carry and SPAR have the lowest prices for 29 per cent (five of 17) of the toiletries each, H-Medix has the lowest prices for six per cent (one of 17) and Shoprite has lowest prices for 12 per cent (two of 17) of the toiletries.

The selling prices have also shown that Shoprite has the highest selling prices for 41 per cent (seven of 17) of the toiletries, H-Medix has the highest selling price for 35 per cent (six of 17) of the toiletries, Sahad Stores has the highest selling price for six per cent (one of 17), while SPAR and Next Cash and Carry have the highest selling price for none of the toiletries.

KItchen section of shoprite

The analysis showed that Sahad Stores is the supermarket with the lowest prices for toiletries followed by Next Cash and Carry, SPAR, and H-Medix, with Shoprite as the supermarket with the highest selling prices.

See Price List Below:

List for toiletries

Soft Drinks

For soft drinks, Coca-Cola and 5 alive were the only drinks brands common to all the five supermarkets, therefore the only brands that were analysed for soft drinks.

Soft drink prices are lowest at Next Cash ‘N Carry, followed by Sahad Stores, SPAR, and Shoprite, with H-Medix as the supermarket with the highest selling prices for drinks.

Next Cash and Carry food and vegetable section

See price list below

List for soft drinks

Alcoholic Drinks

The brands used to compare the prices of drinks with alcohol content in Shoprite, Next Cash and Carry and Spar supermarkets are:   Star Larger 60 centilitres, Smirnoff ice can, Origin 60 centilitres, Andre wine, Amphora red wine, Carlo Rossi, Absolut Vodka, Johnnie Walker Red Label, Chivas whisky (aged 12yrs) 700ml, Baileys 700ml.

Based on the selling prices of the aforementioned drinks, Shoprite has the lowest selling rates of 10 per cent of the products (one of 10 drinks), Next Cash and Carry has the cheapest selling rates for 60 per cent of the rinks (six of 10 drinks) and SPAR has the cheapest selling rates for 40 per cent of the drinks (four of 10 drinks).

This shows that drinks with alcohol content are sold for the lowest prices in NEXT Cash and Carry followed by Spar with Shoprite as the supermarket where alcoholic drinks are most expensive to buy of the three.

The drinks section of Shoprite

H-Medix and Sahad Stores supermarkets were exempted from this analysis as drinks with alcoholic content are not sold there.

See Price list below (Alcoholic Drinks)

List for Alcoholic drinks

Electrical appliances

The products used to compare the prices of electronics are Binatone 20 litres microwave, Binatone rice cooker 1.8 litres, Binatone hair dryer HD 1225, Binatone dry iron, and the Philips Diva Iron GC 122/36.

Due to the nature of the sale of electronics, where a supermarket sells specific brands that may not be available in other stores, all the electronics used for this analysis are not common to the four supermarkets except the 1.8 litre Binatone Rice Cooker. The other electronics on the list are common to three at least supermarkets.

The 1.8 litre Binatone Rice cooker is sold at the lowest price in Next Cash and Carry for N9,700. It costs N9,950 at SPAR and N10,000 in Sahad Stores.

The rice cooker is most expensive at Shoprite at N15,000.

The Binatone 20 litre Microwave sells for the lowest price in SPAR at N31,850. The microwave costs N33,600 in Next cash and carry and is most expensive in Sahad Stores at N41,000.

People shopping in the electronics section of Sahad Stores

In Shoprite, the Binatone Hair dryer HD 1225 is being sold for N9,000. The Hair dryer is sold at a cheaper rate for N5500 at Sahad Stores and for N4,560 at SPAR.

The Binatone Dry iron sells for the lowest price in Sahad Stores at N3500. The price is a bit higher in Next Cash and Carry at N3650 and most expensive at Shoprite at N4,000.

The Philips DIVA dry iron is sold at the lowest price in SPAR N5,190 followed by Next Cash and Carry at N6,500. The iron is sold at the highest rate in Shoprite at N9,000.

See table below

List for electrical appliances

Mostly, Binatone products were used for the electronics analysis because it was the brand common to all the supermarkets.

Overview

The result of the survey, based on the four categories analysed, shows that of the five supermarkets selected, Shoprite has majority of the highest prices in all four categories.

Sahad Stores has majority of the lowest prices in food items and toiletries, however, it has the second highest prices for most of the electronic items.

H-Medix has the second highest prices of food items and toiletries and the highest prices for non-alcoholic drinks.

The supermarket with the second lowest prices for food stuff and toiletries is Next Cash and Carry. It is also the supermarket with the lowest prices of drinks with alcohol content and the store with the second lowest prices for electronics.

SPAR has the third highest prices for food items,toiletries and non-alcoholic drinks. For drinks with alcohol content, SPAR has the second lowest rates and the lowest rates for electronics.

TIP: For electronics, supermarkets sell specific brands which may not be available in other supermarkets. Shoprite sells Binatone, Platinum, Philips, and Essential electronic products. Next Cash and Carry has a wider range of brands to choose from including Black and Decker, Rite-Tek, Scanfrost, Kenwood, Gasa, Master Chef among others.

Shoprite food item section.

Most of the brands available at Next Cash and Carry are also available at SPAR and Sahad Stores but Next Cash and Carry gives more options as the store is larger in size.