Price of a borscht set in online hypermarkets in Ukraine

The team of the Ukrainian service Promocodius has published the results of its own research on the prices of products for making borscht in popular hypermarkets. They compared prices for online orders in Silpo, Varus, Novus, Auchan, and ECO Market. The purpose of this experiment is to find out how much borsch will cost if all the ingredients are ordered online with delivery, UNN reports.

In each market, a full set of products was ordered for the test - meat, vegetables, condiments, donuts, and sour cream. The shopping cart was filled with the products whose price (but not the cost!) was the lowest at the time of ordering. 

Whenever possible, they ordered the volume of food that was closest to the required amount (in kilograms, grams, or liters). So, for example, if 2 kg of unwashed potatoes cost 37 UAH, and 0.5 kg of peeled and washed potatoes cost 26 UAH, they chose the latter option. Cheaper in the moment, but more expensive in terms of cost.

The largest order amount was in Novus, and the smallest in Varus. The lowest cost of 5 servings of borscht on the day of the test was in Auchan, and the most expensive was borscht made from products ordered from Silpo. 

Based on the total amount of the cart, we have the following ranking from the most expensive to the cheapest order:  

• Novus - UAH 510.47;
• Silpo - UAH 504.90;
• ECO Market - UAH 468.07 (without the discount it would be UAH 483.25);
• Auchan - UAH 464.35;
• Varus -  426.00 UAH (if discounts were not taken into account, the amount would be 464.40 UAH).

If you calculate the cost of the products needed to prepare and serve exactly 5 servings of borscht, the rating will be as follows:

• Silpo - UAH 228.86;
• Novus - UAH 224.72;
• Varus - UAH 223.56 (without discounts - UAH 231.9);
• ECO Market - UAH 212.63 (without discounts - UAH 215.86);
• Auchan - UAH 210.12.

However, at the time of the control purchase, Silpo only had processed vegetables, which are much more expensive than regular ones. They increased the cost of borscht compared to the other samples. Varus and ECO Market also had promotional prices at the time of purchase. By the way, if discounts were not taken into account, Varus would have overtaken Silpo in terms of cost, even despite the vegetable shortage. 

Is it so expensive or not to buy food in hypermarkets? For comparison, the average borsch index at the beginning of February 2024 was UAH 218.58. This is more than the cost of a borsch set in Auchan and ECO Market, but less than in Silpo, Novus, and Varus. Given the known sub-optimal approach to the choice of ingredients, orders in markets fit well into the middle of the statistics.

Which market has cheaper products? An unexpected conclusion: in none! Each market has products with a significant price deviation up or down. If you need garlic and doughnuts, it's cheaper in Silpo. You should go to Novus for potatoes and salt. In Auchan - for sour cream and butter. In Varus - for tomato paste and carrots, and in ECO Market - for meat, beets, onions and allspice.

Each marketplace has favorable prices for certain products. Therefore, the most economical option  -   is to compare prices, place orders during promotions, participate in loyalty programs, and use discount coupons.

Based on materials from promocodius.com