Swiss retailers remain cautious in the face of “dynamic” prices in supermarkets – rts.ch

Imagine yourself in a store, buying a kilo of apples. You look at the electronic price label. During your purchases, the price changes. Suddenly, the apples cost 50 more cents – or less – and that several times a day depending on demand. It is not fiction, but a reality in certain countries.

In Norway, there are already supermarkets with dynamic prices. The Discounter Rema 1000 displays prices on electronic labels. The Wall Street Journal reports that they are changed during the day depending on the product. Consumers are used to the prices to change in the space of a few hours. Rema 1000 manages more than 1000 branches in Norway and Denmark, with more than 20,000 employees. Models similar to that of Norway exist in the Netherlands and in other countries.

In the United States, the question of dynamic prices in supermarkets arises again. There, large channels replace paper price labels with digital displays, especially in food stores. At Walmart, more than 400 branches are already equipped with electronic labels and, in the future, they should be more than 2000. Lidl US also replaced paper labels last year by electronics. Experts are divided on the question of whether this digitization in American stores will lead to the implementation of dynamic prices.

Digital labels used in Switzerland

In our country, digital price labels are much more widespread than you might think. Large distributors have mainly already made the transition, which means that Swiss retailers are one step ahead of those in the United States. Migros, for example, started the transition six years ago and gradually equipped its branches with electronic price labels.

Lidl Switzerland replaced price labels five years ago throughout the country, and Aldi also fully put on electronic labels. At Coop, around two thirds of supermarkets are equipped with it. Large retailers could, at least in part, control their prices at any time by simple press of a button. However, they do it with caution.

Fixed prices are popular

The retailers in Switzerland hesitate to adopt dynamic prices. According to the press service of the Orange giant: “Migros relies on stable prices. Dynamic prices, which are adjusted one or more times during the day, are currently not part of the commercial policy.”

At Aldi Switzerland, it is indicated that prices would only be adjusted once a day to the maximum, during the night. “We continue to bet on fixed prices,” says Lidl Switzerland.

And at Coop, it is said that the same prices apply everywhere in Switzerland, dynamic prices are not a subject. The fact that retailers renounce it is linked to the fact that dynamic prices are unpopular to many customers. Swiss suppliers, however, make an exception for foodstuffs: the prices of products whose date of sale expires are also reduced during the day to avoid waste.

Manuel Rentsch (SRF)