"The BFM Basket: Monitoring Prices of 50 Star Products in French Supermarkets"

2023-05-25 04:00:20

BFMTV, BFM Business and the local BFM channels will measure the evolution of a shopping basket of 50 star products from mass distribution. The price differences between regions are sometimes spectacular.

Will food inflation finally come down? Measured at 15% over one year in April by INSEE, the rise in prices in supermarkets alone would be closer to 18% according to research companies such as Circana. A scourge that affects almost all Western economies and weighs on the purchasing power (as well as morale) of households.

While the prices of raw materials and energy have been falling for several months, the major consumer manufacturers pledged last week in France to start negotiations with their retail partners to sell them some of their products. cheaper.

After 18 months of uninterrupted rise, will prices finally flow back onto the shelves of our stores? If so, which ones and in what proportion? It is to measure this evolution that BFMTV, BFM Business and the local BFM channels are launching this Thursday, May 25 “the BFM basket”.

50 consumer products scrutinized

For the next few months, we will measure weekly the evolution of the price of a shopping cart made up of 50 products among the most purchased by French consumers.

Camembert, bottle of soda, jar of spread, sandwich bread, box of eggs, bottle of sunflower oil but also a packet of diapers, bleach, toilet paper and kibble for cats… The prices for all these products will be picked up in about fifty drives, located in 16 areas (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulon… but also Normandy, Brittany, the Côte d’Azur, Alsace or even the Centre-Val de Loire…).

It should be noted that none of the stores chosen are located in the heart of a large metropolis where the prices charged may not be representative. The supermarkets in our selection are all located on the outskirts or in rural areas.

The most expensive French Riviera

For this first edition of the “basket of BFM”, a glaring observation is essential: depending on where they live, the French are not all housed at the same price level.

As you can see on our map below, it is around Nice that our basket is the most expensive: the selection of the 50 products cost us 190.09 euros, almost 10 euros more than in Occitania, where it stands at 180.97 euros – a difference of 5%.

Hover over the map below to find out the amount of the “BFM basket” in your region.

Next among the most expensive baskets are Ile-de-France (185.51 euros), Var (185.08 euros) and the Lyon region (183.83 euros).

Big price differences on some products

This “basket of BFM” is not intended to be exhaustive like the inflation measures of Insee and research companies such as Circana and NielsenIQ which record millions of prices each month. It is a question of illustrating with concrete examples the evolution of the prices of a shopping trolley which could be yours.

In our Côte d’Azur cart, 34 products out of the 50 are the most expensive in our entire list. The package of diapers is thus sold there for 22.30 euros against 20.45 euros on average and even 19.51 euros in Occitania, the cheapest region. But the drives in the region are also the most expensive for frozen ground beef (13.09 euros), meal salad (3.21 euros), coffee pods (7.13 euros), pack of 6 cans of beers (5.02 euros) or the bottle of detergent (7.27 euros).

View detailed “BFM Shopping Cart” statements by selecting a product from the drop-down list in the infographic below.

The Côte d’Azur, the most expensive region in France? This confirms several studies, including one conducted in 2022 by theUFC-What to choose. The Alpes-Maritimes department is densely populated, commercial lease rents are very high there, the population is older (45.2% are over 60 according to INSEE against 37.9% on average in France) and has significant purchasing power and above all the region is one of the most touristic in France. All the ingredients are there to make supermarkets of the French Riviera the most expensive in France.

Will they be less quick to lower their prices in the coming months? How will shopping carts in other regions evolve? Which products are at risk of continuing to flare up? Where will we see the first drops? See you in a week to measure the evolution of the “basket of BFM”.