FollowFor many years, we endured the typical Swiss supermarket pricing model. It didn’t really matter where you did your shopping, because the prices were all more or less the same. Beer is a good example. The supermarkets charge about 2.30 for a can of good German beer.
Then everything changed, with the arrival of Aldi and Lidl. All of a sudden the Swiss supermarket chains didn’t have things all their own way anymore. There was genuine competition, which was something of a foreign concept here. So now, the Swiss chains try to offer better prices. Val spotted this offer of 24 cans for 32.95 today. She sent me a photo, as I was on the hunt for cheap beer on the other side of town. 32.95 is a good price. It works out at 1.37 per can, so a good saving over the usual 2.30.
Meanwhile, I was heading for Lidl to see what they could offer. I bought chocolate eggs, and some sausages for dinner, then I headed for the beer aisle. Nice German weissbier, for 0.69 per can. I bought as many as I could squeeze into the shopping trolley.
So in the space of a few years, the price of a nice can of imported beer has dropped from 2.30 francs to 0.69. That’s remarkable.