Is package-free shopping more expensive? End of speculation!

Finally, the answer to the question of whether package-free shopping is more expensive than regular stores comes. In this article, we'll look at the topic in more detail. In my previous post, I clarified, and in the video showed, how package-free shopping works. Now I'll answer the second most frequently asked question: "Is package-free shopping more expensive?"

The topic of package-free store prices was touched upon in autumn last year by Wastmanka on her blog, where she compared the price of one package-free store against Rohlík and Košík. I contacted her to see if she would like to help with the continuation, and instead I got her "blessing" to continue with the topic.

Last update: April 26, 2022

Without beating around the bush, is package-free shopping more expensive?

Before the actual comparison

The post is structured as follows: introduction to the issue, description of evaluation, comments on graphical results and final summary.

Selection of foods for comparison

For comparison, I selected 74 foods from the following categories: flours; grains and pasta; rice and legumes; seeds; nuts; dried fruit; spices; and others.

Prices of dairy and meat products and baked goods are not compared. The reason is simple: for these foods, no overlap can be found between package-free stores, let alone regular stores. Most package-free stores take these foods from local farms, so I would be comparing prices of individual farms rather than prices of package-free stores.

Contacted package-free stores

From the map of package-free stores, I collected emails and asked if they would participate in the price survey. I sent 130 emails (not only to package-free stores, but also to stores with a package-free section). There were 116 functional addresses and 17 of them finally filled out the price form. Of these 17 stores, 14 are purely package-free. The remaining 3 stores are health food stores with a package-free section. They don't deviate from the price survey, so they are kept in it.

Although package-free stores are all over the Czech Republic (see map), it's interesting that no package-free stores from western and southern Bohemia participated in the survey.
The following stores finally filled out the forms for me (thank you! 🙏❤️):
Nosácek (edit September 2023: no longer operating), Šuplík, Bezobalu (edit September 2023: no longer operating), Tišnovská spižírna, Zero Way, Biodomov, Koloniál beZobalka, El Bio, Bez obalu Frýdek-Místek, ŠPAJZ plný dobrot, Bylinka, Kredenc - bez obalu, Třinec BEZ obalu, Bezobalu z Rynku, REFILL SHOP, Šumperská Špajzka and Krámek bezobalu.

Regular stores against which prices are compared

To compare prices of package-free stores with conventional stores, I used e-shops Rohlik, Tesco and health food store Naturálek.
Of course, it's very difficult to compare goods of the same quality. For example, in the aforementioned Krámek bez obalu (Little Shop Without Packaging), poppy seeds are sold from a small grower and their quality can be expected to be higher than the quality of the cheapest poppy seeds at Tesco. Meanwhile, the cheapest poppy seeds at Naturálek could be comparable.
However, I assume that the question about prices in package-free stores is asked rather by those for whom price comes first and quality of the given food second. Against package-free stores, I thus put the cheapest products found from the trio of mentioned stores. It's a bit to their disadvantage, so the results are actually a kind of "worst case". I didn't find another way to conduct and especially complete the survey. Even so, the comparison is interesting.

Working with data

All prices are stated in CZK per 100 g, unless explicitly stated otherwise. From the collected data, I calculated the difference between regular stores and package-free stores. So if the resulting difference is:

• Positive → package-free store is cheaper.
• Negative → package-free store is more expensive.

Furthermore, I don't work with price differences from all 17 stores individually, but I always make an average and median from them. For calculating the average and median, those package-free stores that don't offer the product are not used. For calculating the average, the sum of prices is not divided by the total number of package-free stores (17), but always by the corresponding number (theoretically 1 – 17).

Is package-free shopping more expensive? Comparison results

How to "read" the graphical comparison results?

Below are 4 bar charts, each for one selected food category. Each chart contains three graphs:

1. Dependence of median price differences (regular store – package-free store) on the given food.
2. Dependence of average price differences on the given food.
3. Ratio of cases where the price in package-free stores is higher for the given food. Related to the total number of package-free stores that have this item in their assortment. Example: food X is more expensive in 3 cases and is offered by 10 package-free stores → 3/10 = 30 → N more expensive is therefore 30%.

For further explanation of how to read the charts, I'll take the first image. The aforementioned trio of graphs shares the x-axis (horizontal axis), where it's always stated what food it is. Furthermore, the number of package-free stores that have the food in their assortment is given in brackets (i.e., the number from which the median, average and N more expensive are determined). Individual colors then distinguish regular stores against which price differences (and subsequent statistics) were performed.

Missing colors in bar charts

It may happen that in the charts there will be 1 – 3 colored bars for each food. However, each food doesn't have to be represented by its color in each of the trio of charts. So these cases can occur when the color for a given food:

1. is not present in any of the trio of charts. In such a case, the regular store doesn't offer the food (very common for organic foods compared to Tesco).
2. is in the N more expensive chart, but not in average and median – this is due to display, when smaller differences than 1 CZK (Python) method simply doesn't draw.
3. is in the N more expensive chart, but missing either in average or median.
4. is drawn in median and average, but not in N more expensive. The reason is simple: such food is not more expensive than regular stores in any of the package-free stores (very common for organic foods).

Note: When browsing through the charts, I recommend watching all three graphs (median, average, N more expensive). If some food is more expensive in, say, 60%, you need to also look at the median and average. It happens that they are indeed more expensive, but the difference might be, for example, one crown.

Is package-free shopping more expensive for conventional foods? What do the bar charts say?

So what do the bar charts (for conventional foods shown in the quartet above) say? In the case of rice and legumes, about 50% of package-free stores are more expensive than regular stores, but price differences between individual foods are crown-level in both directions. When buying multiple items, price differences in this category therefore average out. Exceptions are only red lentils (can be bought cheaper in package-free stores) and green peas (more expensive in package-free stores).
The comparison for spices is quite clear. Only Tesco with its low-cost brand "Stockwell & Co" (a brand actually owned by Tesco) can compete with package-free stores. Other spice brands in Tesco are much more expensive. That's why there's such a price difference between Rohlík and Tesco. For example, basil can be bought for 49 CZK/100 g from the "Stockwell & Co" brand, while the second cheapest brand is then "Avokádo" with a price of 115 CZK/100 g. So if the buyer doesn't "recognize" "Tesco Value" hidden behind "Stockwell & Co", then shopping in package-free stores will always be a saving for them. For spices, Rohlík is cheaper than package-free stores only in the case of ground cinnamon (out of a total of 18 items). So if you're not planning a cinnamon challenge, then spices are much more advantageous to buy in package-free stores.

Is package-free shopping more expensive for conventional foods? The histogram will tell.

Bar charts are good for a quick overview of which foods are more expensive/cheaper. However, they are not very suitable for finding an answer to the question of whether package-free stores are generally more expensive. It would be necessary to compare one food after another. In contrast, plotting average price differences in a histogram gives quite a good overview (see the following image).

If foods cost the same in regular stores and package-free stores, then the average price differences would come out to zero. The histogram would therefore show one bar on the x-axis at position 0. The frequency of such a bar would therefore correspond to 100%. Of course, this is not the case in reality, because some foods are more expensive and some are cheaper. Since price differences are calculated as the difference between regular stores and package-free stores, frequencies to the right of zero on the x-axis show cheaper package-free stores. Conversely, to the left of 0 (negative differences), indicates higher prices in package-free stores.

From the histograms, the following can be read:

• Rohlík: package-free stores are slightly cheaper than Rohlík
  • the histogram is more concentrated on the right side of 0 on the x-axis
  • the histogram has occasional extremes (much larger differences with respect to the majority of differences concentrated around 0) in favor of package-free stores.
• Tesco: package-free stores are more expensive than the cheapest products at Tesco. So if someone buys the cheapest "Tesco value" products (or whatever it's called today), package-free stores will be more expensive for them.
• Naturálek: the representative of health food stores is almost even with package-free stores in terms of price, but package-free stores are still slightly more expensive.

Is package-free shopping more expensive for organic foods?

The same food categories, just for organic, are shown in the following quartet of charts.

And also a histogram.

In the case of organic foods, package-free stores are cheaper than packaged alternatives. Again, I summarize only some food categories verbally to keep the article at a reasonable length. In the case of rice and legumes, you can save around 2 CZK/100 g by shopping in package-free stores.
The conclusion for nuts is clear: package-free stores are cheaper by 8 CZK or more, depending on the type of nuts.
For seeds, visible savings in the case of package-free stores are also evident. Average differences between regular stores and package-free stores show savings (practically for all package-free stores) around 5, 10 or more CZK - variable on specific types of seeds.
Organic spices are not doing well at Tesco except for exceptions. If they happen to be there, they are overpriced compared to package-free stores – just like at Rohlík and Naturálek. At Naturálek, for example, marjoram, oregano, bay leaves and sweet paprika are 2 CZK per 1 g more expensive. For other types of spices, these differences are around 0.5 – 1 CZK per 1 g.

Conclusion

Shopping in package-free stores pays off

The price comparison showed that only if the consumer buys the cheapest foods like "Tesco Value", then shopping in package-free stores doesn't really pay off for them.

Organic foods are cheaper than regular stores in most cases. Conventional foods are some more expensive, some cheaper. It therefore pays to shop for a wide range of foods, which allows you to take advantage of averaging more expensive foods by purchasing cheaper foods as well. Of course, if someone has a "somehow skewed" diet, then this averaging can work to their advantage, but also to their detriment.

The biggest price differences are for spices. In the case of organic spices, often extremely so.

Furthermore, it's necessary to repeat the fact that the price comparison of package-free stores is done against supermarkets and health food stores. So if you shop at a local corner shop, higher savings can be expected.

Weight of packaging x weight of food: spices lose across the board

If we were to make a ratio between the weight of purchased goods and the weight of packaging, spices would come out worst. Although the financial savings in package-free stores are enormous precisely for spices, it's probably only worth thinking about for those who buy larger quantities than 10 g. For example, for basil and oregano, regular stores are more expensive by more than 1 CZK per 1 g. The same goes for ground ginger and whole black pepper comes very close to this limit.

Thank you for reading to the end. The survey is carried out purely from my own initiative, as an environmentally minded individual who has been living the philosophy of waste reduction (and therefore also shopping in package-free stores) for five years. The survey is not sponsored in any way. My reward will be sharing the idea and also expanding the blog's readership.