The current Lidl brochure advertises high discounts. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the discounter is significantly lowering the price of individual products, some of which are even reduced in price by up to half. "More than cheap" is how Lidl describes its offer price in the brochure.
Stefanie Diemand
Editor in the economy.
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The discounter is not the only grocer that is currently cutting back. Only recently, for example, supermarket Kaufland lowered the price of several types of cheese – the reason for this is the lower raw material prices. Other retailers had also reduced the price of cheese before. And that's not all: the big discounters Aldi and Lidl in particular are fighting for the best price. While Lidl wants to attract attention with its anniversary offers, Aldi is responding with its own discounts. All in all, retailers are mainly lowering the price of staple foods such as pasta, butter, cheese or fruit and vegetables. These are product groups that attract many consumers to the stores.
But that shouldn't hide the fact that shopping is still expensive. In May, for example, the inflation rate in Germany fell from 7.2 to 6.1 percent. This was announced by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden on Wednesday after an initial estimate. Food prices rose by 14.9 percent year-on-year in May. Although the figure is below the April level (17.2 percent), it still remains high.
How do retailers' offers fit in with the continuing high inflation rate? "We assume that inflation rates will decline significantly overall, but it is unlikely that the price level itself will fall," says Joachim Ragnitz of the Ifo Institute. This is all the more true for food. The fact that individual goods are becoming cheaper again – as the brochures of food retailers show – does not contradict this.
And consumers are still skeptical: According to a survey published on Friday by the auditing firm EY, 70 percent of Germans still believe that there will be further price increases in the food sector in the next six months.
This assessment may also be due to the manufacturers who have already announced plenty of price increases for this year: such as consumer goods manufacturer Henkel , food company Nestlé or the French spirits group Pernod Ricard . The Unilever CFO even believes that the peak of inflation has been passed, but not that of pricing.
No single cause
Such announcements lead to resentment among retailers – especially among supermarkets, which in the past wanted to differentiate themselves from discounters with many branded products. The supermarkets Edeka and Rewe even demanded in a letter from their manufacturers to finally lower the purchase prices. This is especially true in areas where costs have recently fallen. According to the Edeka letter, this is the case, for example, for cereals or vegetable oils. This is the only way to ensure the competitiveness of Edeka retailers.