by In the chaos of high prices, these apps help you save money at the supermarket
They allow you to compare the prices of all products in the super and hypermarkets that dominate the national market.
Inflation has wreaked havoc on supermarkets and the lives of Portuguese people, who have seen shopping bills soar to unaffordable amounts. The food basket designed by ASAE increased, in the last year, by 29 percent.
Accusations are exchanged in the public square. Consumers complain about high prices. Some accuse distributors and retailers of using the inflation excuse to post record profits – a suspicion highlighted by the European Central Bank. On the other side of the barricade, the big supers and hypermarkets are guaranteeing that they are trying to absorb the increases on the producer side to continue to avoid price escalation.
Amidst all this noise, it is the consumer who continues to lose out, looking for alternatives at ever higher prices. And at a time when it’s increasingly difficult to navigate between seemingly similar offers and prices in stores, apps that offer a bird’s-eye view of the price landscape are increasingly useful.
One of them is Super Save, the Portuguese app that launched in early 2022, just in time to help consumers prepare for escalating inflation caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The software designed by three Portuguese engineers is free to use and collects product data from the largest surfaces operating in the national territory.
From Continente to Intermarché, from Aldi to Lidl, Auchan and Pingo Doce, almost all products are listed in the database, which is permanently updated to reflect fleeting offers. In addition to the current unit prices, other relevant information such as the price per kilogram or per liter is provided.
Like most price comparisons, there is also the possibility to observe the history of the product for the last three months on the different surfaces. And Super Save, available for free on iOS and Android, also lets you save a list of products and place them in your favorites so you can keep track of constant price changes.
The app also allows sharing a shopping list with other people to make the shopping task easier. But there’s more: once you’ve created a shopping list, you can then check item by item where it’s cheapest.
the purchase in two or three clicks,” he says.
In this market of price comparison apps, there is no single choice. In addition to Super Save, it is also possible to use Lisie, which works on a more individual basis.
The app, available for free on iOS and Android, lets you search directly by product using its name or barcode. In a few seconds, it offers a simplified list of the product value in each of the super or hypermarkets.
