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16 September 2005
Milan, Italy
While Euro critics continue to debate the negative effect and impact of the Euro, a new survey from ACNielsen has confirmed that, for a basket of popular international branded products, the introduction of the Euro is contributing to a price convergence across Europe.
“In 2002, the span of prices from cheapest to most expensive country was 71%. Today, for identical international brand products, we see that gap reduced to 50%” said Frank Martell, CEO ACNielsen Europe. “Among Europe’s larger markets, stagnating growth and flat consumer demand combined with an increasing competitive retailing industry are forcing prices down.” added Martell.
“Of course there are specific market factors which affect prices in each country such as taxes, geographical location and transport costs as well as retailers’ real estate costs – but the trend in the past three years and into the near future, is further price convergence, though perhaps at a slower rate,” predicted Martell.
The ACNielsen Euro Price Barometer is the first survey of its kind to compare and measure price convergence and divergence trends across Europe. The survey reports and measures the cost of 160 identical international brand products sold in fifteen European markets – Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Over 25,000 grocery stores and outlets (supermarkets and hypermarkets) are included in the study.
Norway is the most expensive country in Europe to buy international brand products (ranked second most expensive in 2003) and followed by Denmark (ranked most expensive in 2003). Germany remains consistently the cheapest country in Europe to buy international brand products.
In the latest survey, Sweden again remained the country with the widest range of price differences (44%) although this figure has decreased from 52% in 2003 largely due to increased competition within the Swedish retail industry.
At the other end of the scale, consumers in UK (15%) and France (12%) enjoy the lowest price differences in Europe. A combination of retailer consolidation, increase in shopping promotions and intense price wars between major retailers has seen UK’s price difference decrease from 37% to 15% in the past three years. In France, consumers enjoy Europe’s lowest price differences for international brands as a result of increasingly strong competition in the retail market.
About ACNielsen
ACNielsen, a VNU business, is the world's leading marketing information company. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the company provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behavior. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns.
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