Govt launches portal to help compare supermarket prices

Consumers can now compare supermarket prices from a dozen stores across the island with the launch of a new web-based platform, pricecheck.gov.bb. The free service of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs aims to provide up-to-date information on essential consumer goods, enabling shoppers to find the best deals.

At the website’s launch on Friday, Acting Director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Bertram Johnson hailed the platform as a “milestone achievement” for both the government and the public.

He described PriceCheck as a vital tool in the department’s efforts to digitise services and better meet consumer needs.

Johnson said: “Today, on the consumer side of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, we’ll be advancing our digitisation thrust via the onboarding of PriceCheck, to the largest sector in any economy, and that sector is the consumer sector. PriceCheck should be viewed as a public good to consumers, as the ministry seeks to advance its public value to consumers and ensure that two key principles of consumers are observed.

“One, we believe that there is a right for consumers to choose, and it also provides that consumers have the right to be informed. PriceCheck offers both of those things.”

So far, 12 retailers are providing price information to the portal with more businesses expected to join.

Minister of Energy and Business Senator Lisa Cummins praised the portal, noting that it would reduce the need for manual price checks by government inspectors.

She said: “Phase one of the app moves us from having to have these inspectors going out and getting into cars and driving around, all of that stuff has been minimised and eventually it will go away. You now have a digital base platform that we can use any number of parameters internally to create reports on what we are looking for.”

Senator Cummins further highlighted how PriceCheck could benefit consumers directly, allowing them to search for items across various supermarket chains and compare prices.

“For the consumer now…you can go on PriceCheck, put in a search that allows you to see the goods that you are looking for, and it will pull up that item, all of the different brands for that item, and it will give you a set of options of where you can find that [item] and what is the price across the country,” she said.

The minister for commerce and consumer affairs revealed plans for a second phase of the platform, which will integrate the Customs Department’s Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) to provide additional transparency.

“We want to be able ultimately to integrate the work of ASYCUDA through customs…to ensure that the measures that are being taken by government…to address prices that affect businesses, that we are able to see those savings…passed onto consumers,” she said.

This second phase will also support businesses by providing access to competitive prices from international suppliers, offering greater transparency for companies seeking to diversify their sources of goods, she said.

“We typically are getting a lot of goods from China, Eastern Europe, what are the options that we could be looking at…in future phases of PriceCheck, we also intend to be able to provide a mechanism that benefits the business community,” Senator Cummins said.