Supermarkets in British Urban Life - Assignment Example

For seven consecutive days during October Keep a diary of all your expenditure. what you buy, when you bought it, the brand, the size and the cost. 1)Summarise your expenditure under broad headings and comment on the extent to which the expenditure in the particular week chosen differs from your average or "normal" expenditure. 2)Now compare the expenditures you actually made with those that you would have made if you had been able to make all your purchase on-line. a)For on-line price comparison you should use Asda(you need to register), Sainsburys, Tesco(you need to register), and Waitrose(or Ocado)(You need to give an English postcode) b)If you cannot match the good precisely select the nearest equivalent. c)If the good/service is not available on line(e.g. a haircut) omit it from your analysis. 3)Using your expenditure pattern as a comparison basket of goods, compare the on-line prices across the four supermarket chains. 4)What Implications, if any, do you draw from this project? 5)In addition you should include a one page executive summary. Harvard Style. Executive Summary This report deals with comparison of online and market or listed prices of several goods and items that have been bought in a week’s time in October and the prices for all these good have been noted down in a tabular form. The prices of these items bought are shown and the online prices for the same ides are also given bringing in a comparison between market and online prices. The online prices suggest that market prices of goods are drastically reduced when the same goods and items are sold item and the reason behind this phenomenon has been analysed. The first exercise shows a comparison of online and market price for goods varying from shoes to washing powder, DVD and missed vegetables, ice cream and soft drinks. The second exercise is on the comparison of online prices across the four major supermarket chains across UK and the prices of all the items have been compared to understand whether certain supermarkets are generally cheaper than certain others. Tesco and Asda have been found to be in general cheaper than Sainsbury’s and Waitrose although further research in this area would be required to provide any conclusive evidence in this matter. The report however can definitely suggest that considering the lowered prices of online goods, more consumers would prefer to buy goods online in the coming years and online or internet shopping will definitely become more successful in the future. Keywords: Market price, online price, supermarkets, internet shopping, listed items. I - Summary of expenditure showing item, brand, size and cost and comments on how this would differ from average or normal expenditure Item Date Brand Size Cost Monday Washing powder 16-10-06 Ariel 1 kg 1.47 Tuesday Women’s shoes 17-10-06 M&S 5 20.99 Wednesday Soft Drink 18-10-06 Coca Cola 2ltr 2.18 Thursday Mixed Vegetables 19-10-06 Tesco 500g .90 Friday Vanilla ice cream 20-10-06 Walls 2ltr 2.64 Saturday Red wine 21-10--06 Marquez de chive 75cl 4.83 Sunday DVD 22-10-06 Sainsbury’s n/a 17.99 Total: £51.00 The expenditure for the week given is at £51 which would be slightly higher than the normal expenditure as the DVD, and Women’s shoes amounting to 20.99 + 17.99 that is 38.98 are extra items bought which are not usually bought every week. The usual or average weekly expenditure considering these items bought will only be at £12.02 although at this time it is above £50. The expenditure for this week involves goods and items as diverse as washing powder, soft drink, women’s shoes, mixed vegetables, ice cream, DVD, and red wine. The DVD and women’s shoes as we have identified are some of the items that I wouldn’t usually buy and can be considered as ‘extra items’ for the week. However these items seem to have raised the expenditure dramatically. II - Summary of expenditure showing item, brand, size and cost for online purchase Item Date Brand Size Cost Monday Washing powder 16-10-06 Ariel 1 kg 1.15 Tuesday Women’s shoes 17-10-06 M&S 5 16.99 Wednesday Soft Drink 18-10-06 Coca Cola 2ltr 1.68 Thursday Mixed vegetables 19-10-06 Tesco 500g .70 Friday Vanilla ice cream 20-10-06 Walls 2ltr 1.64 Saturday Red wine 21-10--06 Marquez de chive 75cl 3.83 Sunday DVD 22-10-06 Sainsbury’s n/a 11.99 Total: £ 41.98 The possibility of any online purchase could have given the following table as all online prices of articles have been considered and noted as a comparison of market prices. The same articles as already purchased from 16th October for a week could have been purchased online for prices given here. The total price for the items as bought from the markets was £51 and if purchased online these could have been bought for a price of £41.98. The total savings from online purchase could be given as £51.00-£41.98 which equals £9.02. Thus a 9 pound saving could be done within a week of online purchase if we choose not to visit the supermarket and click online for our goods and services. Online price of goods are thus considerably cheaper. Item Brand Size Market price Online price Washing powder Ariel 1 kg 1.47 1.15 Women’s shoes M&S 5 20.99 20.99 Soft Drink Coca Cola 2ltr 2.18 1.68 Mixed vegetables Tesco 500g .90 .70 Vanilla ice cream Walls 2ltr 2.64 1.64 Red wine Marquez de chive 75cl 4.83 3.83 DVD Sainsbury’s n/a 17.99 11.99 A comparison of market price and online price has been given here which shows that nearly all items are available at a much lower price online than they are available in the market. A comparative chart has been drawn that shows a difference of .32 on washing powder, 4 pounds on women’s shoes, .50 on soft drink, .20 on mixed vegetables, 1.00 on vanilla ice cream, 1 pound on red wine and a 6 pound difference on the price of DVD. The difference in online and market prices is given below. Market price Online price Difference in price 1.47 1.15 0.32 20.99 20.99 0 2.18 1.68 .50 .90 .70 .20 2.64 1.64 1.00 4.83 3.83 1.00 17.99 11.99 6.00 III – Online price comparison of goods bought considering four major supermarket chains in the UK. The reference values are from Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, which are the major supermarkets in UK. Item Brand Size Price- online Tesco Price – Online Asda Price – online Sainsbury’s Price – online Waitrose Washing powder Ariel 1 kg 1.15 1.09 1.47 1.89 Women’s slippers n/a 5 15.99 14.99 14.99 16.99 Soft Drink Coca Cola 2ltr 1.68 1.67 1.79 1.86 Mixed Vegetables Tesco 500g .70 .75 .90 1.10 Vanilla ice cream Walls 2ltr 1.64 1.90 1.98 1.99 Red wine Marquez de chive 75cl 3.83 3.98 4.15 4.99 DVD Poseidon n/a 12.99 11.99 11.99 14.99 Price guide – from supermarkets given – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Waitrose The online prices of the items given seem to vary considerably across the supermarket chains and in some markets the prices are cheaper although marginally than some others. Online prices have been found to be drastically cheaper than regular market prices although for some items prices tend to remain the same. Asda has shown some of the lowest prices for all items and Tesco has also reported slashing prices according to Asda and other supermarket pricing. Sainsbury’s provides offers on a regular basis and its loyalty card schemes as also available in Tesco help to boost its sales. In most cases, online prices are lower and goods are cheaper when bought online, although Sainsbury’s and Waitrose may show some level of higher pricing even for online purchase. Waitrose and Sainsbury’s may also be a little expensive when compared with Tesco and Asda. IV – Implications of this project Several issues are highlighted in this project and this involves the comparative differences in prices for the same goods across different supermarket chains and the possible savings through online purchase. At least seven goods and items have been purchased in the markets and prices of these goods online are then compared to show that online prices may be drastically lower than market or listed prices. This may be because manufacturers or supermarket companies are trying to encourage online purchase and boost sales through a new and advanced method of technology, i.e. internet. The online prices of all items taken together have been found to be quite lower than the listed market price of all these items considered and a nearly 10 pound saving was noted when differences between online and listed prices were summed up. This suggests that supermarkets not only encourage online shopping but actively promotes it by reducing or slashing prices considerably, sometimes even by half, although some supermarkets tend to maintain similar pricing both in the shops and online. The project suggests that online shopping may become increasingly popular among consumers if supermarkets continue to give good deals and attractive prices that would be lower than regular prices of items in the markets as listed. Encouraging online shopping seems to be one of the primary motives for such a drastic difference between online and market price. The project not only shows the importance of supermarkets in British urban life, but also shows possibilities of savings when goods are bought online. This report suggests that although some supermarkets tend to maintain the same price of goods both in the stores and online, many supermarkets give very attractive deals online and most would not have higher pricing for online goods available for sale. Many items are available online at a reduced price and have easy availability and can be purchased at the click of a button. Easy and quick availability as well as cheap prices of online items make it an attractive option to buy online rather than in markets. Bibliography Online resources at: www.tesco.com, accessed 2006-10-28 www.sainsburys.co.uk, accessed 2006-10-28 www.asda.co.uk, accessed 2006-10-28 www.waitrose.com, accessed 2006-10-28 Wood, Tim. (1988). Supermarket. Franklin Watts Read More