A study published this week found that Jumbo was top of the table when it comes to cheap prices, especially in Central Portugal, as it was the number one choice for many shoppers in areas including Aveiro, Coimbra, Leiria, Lisbon, Setúbal and Viseu.
DECO put together a ‘hamper’ comprising 243 products (which had a total of 106,536 different prices in the 591 stores surveyed between January and March this year), 38 percent of which were own-brand products and 62 percent were branded products, to realistically reflect the shopping tendencies of Portuguese families.
In the study the association made calculations for two types of consumer profiles: those who spend €150 a month on shopping, and those whose monthly shop costs up to €400.
It concluded that those who spend more also save more, with the biggest savings being pinpointed to Santarém.
Trailing in Jumbo’s wake are the Continente and Continente Modelo chains, where prices are, on average, two percent more expensive than Jumbo, but have a stronger national presence, even in less-populated areas such as the interior, Azores and Madeira.
Pingo Doce, which is also found widely throughout Portugal, rounds off the podium, being on average six percent more expensive than Jumbo.
Deco’s ranking found the most expensive supermarkets are Intermarché, Minipreço and Lidl, largely due to the prices of their fresh fruit and vegetables.
“Often, meat and fish are supplied by external companies and therefore have higher prices. Regarding groceries and drugstore products, the results improve a lot: Lidl even fares slightly better than Pingo Doce”, the study indicates.
The consumer watchdog’s research further highlights that Jumbo supermarkets fare best across the board in terms of prices of both fresh and frozen products, as well as in terms of groceries, personal care, and household products.
Jumbo spearheads low prices both in its physical stores and online shopping.
In the online sales chart, Jumbo is followed by Continente, in second, with Intermarché coming in third.