Price competition intensifies as Prís supermarket disrupts grocery market in Iceland

The impact of the new supermarket “Prís” continues to affect grocery prices in Iceland, as revealed by a recent survey from ASÍ. The survey indicates that average prices have decreased the most at Nettó since Prís entered the market on August 17.

From the beginning to the end of August, all major grocery chains, including Bónus, Krónan, Nettó, and Hagkaup, lowered their prices. Bónus reduced prices on 19 percent of the surveyed items, while Krónan and Nettó lowered prices by 9 percent each, and Hagkaup by 3 percent. During this period, health days at Nettó led to a price drop on 32 percent of items. Since Prís opened, prices there have decreased on 15 percent of products, with only a slight increase of 0.3 percent.

Despite Bónus lowering prices on most items, the average price decrease was minimal at only 0.3 percent. The most significant price reduction was at Nettó, with an average decrease of 0.8 percent (and 6.1 percent during health days). ASÍ attributed this phenomenon partly to a competitive price war incited by Prís, particularly in dairy and meat products.

The comparison shows that Prís remains the cheapest grocery store. Of the items surveyed from Bónus, Krónan, and Prís on September 5, 97 percent were cheaper at Prís. Bónus had the lowest price on only 7 percent of items, with Krónan offering the lowest price on just one product.

According to ASÍ’s findings, over a quarter of the items were more than 5 percent cheaper at Prís compared to Bónus, with some items even being half the price at Prís.