By Buying groceries represents one of the biggest spending areas for the average consumer in Singapore. In fact, according to a survey done by the government, Singaporean households spend about 25% of their monthly budgets on food. But where should you be spending all this money at? Here are a few things you should know in order to make sure you are getting the best deal on groceries.
Prices Are Relatively Similar, Except for A Few Exceptions
There are 4 main supermarket chains in Singapore, with a few other online players that have emerged in the recent years. To help you understand how these retailers’ pricing compare to one another, we have collected their prices for a few major food items, like milk, egg, veggies and chicken. Overall, we’ve found that there is little difference in pricing except for Cold Storage and RedMart, which tended to be more expensive.
For example, consider price of 1 litre of fresh milk, which on average cost about S$3.4 across all retailers. For eggs, a case of 10 small eggs cost about S$1.4. However, these prices were meaningfully higher at Cold Storage as well as online retailers like RedMart.
For more information on the best supermarkets in Singapore, you can check out our study in the link.
| FairPrice | Cold Storage | Sheng Siong | Giant | RedMart | Purely Fresh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average Milk Price for 1L | S$3.35 | S$3.43 | S$3.38 | S$3.35 | S$3.38 | S$3.80 |
| 10S House Brand | S$1.35 | S$2.45 | S$1.40 | S$1.58 | S$1.80 | |
| Shanghai Green 250G | S$1.10 | S$1.95 | S$1.25 | S$1.10 | S$1.05/1.80 | |
| Whole Chicken | S$7.45 | S$7.70 | S$7.45 | S$7.45 | S$7.45 |
Pick Your Supermarket Based on Location
Given that price differences between these supermarket chains is quite minimal, you should pick which supermarket to shop at based on their locations. FairPrice had by far the most number of locations for all of its brands, with 193 store locations in the country. Also, if you are looking for a more convenient online order & delivery option, most of these offline & online retailers will deliver for free as long as you meet their minimum order size requirements. Otherwise, you can expect to spend about S$7 on your grocery delivery. For online delivery, RedMart had the lowest minimum order requirement to qualify for a free delivery, but offline retailers like FairPrice was competitive as well.
You can use our table below to locate different store locations and make a more informed decision.
| FairPrice | Cold Storage | Sheng Siong | Giant | RedMart | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Store Locations | 193 | 52 | 44 | 61 | |
| Minimum Order for Free Delivery | S$100 | S$60 | S$70 | S$60 | S$49 |
| Delivery Fee Below Minimum Order |
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Promotions and Discounts Matter
Given what we’ve found, your choice of supermarket should depend on your location as well as special promotions and discounts you can earn. Supermarkets regularly offer special discounts on certain number of products, and rotate these deals every week or month. It’s a highly advisable to keep track of these different deals and take full advantage of them by shopping different things at different places. For instance, you could pick up vegetables at a store near your office after work, and milk and egg at a store near your home.
Not only that, there are great credit cards that have deals with these super markets to offer cash rebate on all your expenditures in these retailers, as well as additional discounts for house brands.
For example, cashback credit cards like Citi Cashback Card and POSB Everyday Card can help you save 5-8% on all your grocery purchases on top of other cash rebates. Make sure to check out which one of these grocery credit cards work best for you in our guide in the link.
This article was first published on Value Penguin website.