“Right now the chicken is very expensive, and it’s better to ask for the bone to be thrown in to make a broth in addition to the stew,” said Mrs. María López, who kept the pantry at the Bondojito Market , located in the Gustavo A. Madero mayor’s office, From Mexico City.
It has forced Mexicans to change their consumption habits and look for different options to buy their groceries. From supermarkets to neighborhood markets, consumers, but what is the best option?
At Expansión we took on the task of visiting four markets and three supermarkets located in different areas of Mexico City to compare prices. We present the results.
The 14 products of the basket that were used for this exercise were:
- Whole cow’s milk, 1 L
- Maria style cookies, 1 tube
- Black beans, 1 kg
- Yellow corn tortillas, 1kg
- Cooking oil, 1L
- Toilet paper, 4 rolls
- Tuna in water, 1 can
- Pork leg ham, 1 kg
- Box bread, 1 large bag
- Sugar, 1 Kg
- Cereal, 1 box
- White egg, 12 pcs
- Chicken breast, 1kg
- Salad tomato, 1 kg
The supermarkets visited were Walmart, Soriana and Chedraui, where we compared “brand or line” and generic products; while the four markets are Mercado Argentina, Mercado Mixcoac, Mercado Bondojito and Mercado de la Merced, in these only branded products were found.
Where is the pantry cheaper?
In the general price comparison for line brands, the markets are a cheaper option. The average value of the 14 goods in supermarkets was 857.80 pesos, while in the neighborhood markets it was 593.25, that is, for the same selection of products, a consumer can pay up to 264.55 pesos less if he goes to his market local.
However, the picture changes when the basket of goods is covered with generic products from the supermarket.
Although local markets do not have as wide a range of brands as supermarkets, in both cases there is a greater variety for the consumer to choose from, but when it comes to generics, the range is limited. In addition, these inputs may be of lower quality, therefore, with generic brands, supermarkets can save consumers.
The president of the National Association of Small Merchants, Cuauhtémoc Rivera, assures that although generic products can continue to be purchased, the levels of nutrients or the quality in the manufacture of certain goods are usually lower.
Supermarkets vs markets
The most expensive basic basket was found in Soriana , with line brands, where consumers can pay up to 1,214.30 pesos, in contrast to the visit to the markets, La Merced was the cheapest option, with 547.04 pesos , that is, , 667.26 pesos difference.
In Chedraui , the total price of the selection of brand products was 780.40 pesos and in its generic version it was 560 pesos. Meanwhile, Walmart was the supermarket where the cheapest account was obtained, with 582.20 pesos for branded products and 509.10 for generics.
The exercise showed in supermarkets that when comparing the average price of line brands against generic ones, the consumer can save 294.72 pesos , if he buys the latter.
Meanwhile, if line products are purchased in markets, the savings is 264.55 pesos , taking into account the same products that were compared in the supermarket.
However, if you decide to buy the supermarket’s own brands (Great Value, Chedraui, etc.), the result is approximately 30.22 pesos cheaper than in popular markets.
In the tours carried out in markets, the highest price was taken by the Mixcoac Market, where the basket of 14 products has a value of 647.7 pesos, followed by the Mercado Argentina, in the Miguel Hidalgo City Hall, where the sum was 594.36 pesos, and finally the Mercado Bondojito, in Gustavo A. Madero, a place where a consumer would get their basket for 590 pesos.
Prices go up and sales go down
Dairy products merchant Edy Othón Mendoza, who works at La Merced, shares that he has noticed that the prices of the products he sells have risen, but not for a few weeks, but since January.
“In this case, there is no way, only that prices rose and sales fell, and from then on there is no way to control it or to do something , people have simply gotten used to the fact that they are not going to lower prices again. prices and little by little they are returning”.
When asked if customers decide to buy less, the 32-year-old, who works in his parents’ business, explained that they don’t even buy anymore.
Despite the efforts of tenants to offer better prices, they also see an increase in the value of inputs from their suppliers, and offering a lower price to their customers means reducing their profit margin, which, they say, is already small. .
“Everything goes up, everything goes up, we try to give them the best price but then it is difficult. Then people scold you, they tell us ‘why so expensive?’, but our suppliers have also raised our prices. We also see that people no longer buy the same, because they have had to adapt and buy less or they vary,” said Mr. Juan, who has a vegetable store in the Bondojito Market.
“Well, we manage as best we can, there’s no other way, we have to make the food yield the same but with less money. Right now the chicken is very expensive, it’s better to ask someone to put the bone in it to make a broth in addition to the stew” , commented Mrs. María López, buyer of the place.
In the Mixcoac Market there are few establishments compared to other larger markets in Mexico City. Therefore, it can be said that the prices are uniform, because there is not so much competition between tenants.
For example, on the day of the visit there were only two butcher shops open and only one of them sold beef steak for roasting, in the other they only had pork. The piles of fruit are not as abundant as in other street markets or markets, just a few piles on planks covered with a blue tarp. Of course, there are many piñatas and, on the outskirts of the market, taquerias and other food places.
About 100 meters from the market and near the whereabouts of the Mixcoac Metro, you can find a truck in which two men offer fresh fruit to passers-by.
Unlike the market, where there are no visible prices on most stalls, the piles of fruit in the vehicle do.
