Coronavirus: Massive jump in the price of high-demand products, data shows
Monday, 6 April 2020
The price of chest freezers and webcams spiked as New Zealanders moved into lockdown.
Data collected by price comparison website PriceSpy showed the price of some essential items almost doubled over the course of March.
New Zealand PriceSpy country manager Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett said the indexed prices increased 5 per cent across all 108,000 products in March.
The company looked at pricing changes by category as well as the cheapest price found on PriceSpy for the top ten most-clicked-on products on March 1 across several 'essential item' categories.
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The data was then compared to the cheapest price listed on March 31.
The average price for chest freezers increased by 28 per cent during that period.
'Shockingly, the findings revealed 90 per cent of the top ten most-clicked-on chest freezers cost more to buy on March 31 compared to March 1, before the national Covid-19 alert system was implemented,' Matinvesi-Bassett said.
Some chest freezers almost doubled in price, she said.
'For example, if consumers purchased the Fisher & Paykel RC376W1 chest freezer on March 31, it would have cost them $550 more compared to if it was bought on March 1,' Matinvesi-Bassett said.
A similar price jump was also seen in some Haier models.
'Unfortunately these price hikes were not just restricted to the shopping category of chest freezers. In fact, similar price spikes were found across many other products from essential shopping categories, such as computers and accessories and heating and cooling items' '
According to PriceSpy data, 80 per cent of webcams and 70 per cent of whiteware goods were more expensive to purchase at the end of the month compared to the start.
While price fluctuations were normal, some of the price hikes were particularly high, Matinvesi-Bassett said.
'During such unprecedented times, our key piece of advice to consumers who need to make an essential purchase right now is to be vigilant and conduct important price research before they commit and buy, as our insights suggests many products have received a price hike over this last month.'
The issue of price gouging lead the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to create an email address for people to send in their concerns.
Since its launch one week ago, there have been over 2100 emails to the Price Watch inbox, a spokeswoman for MBIE said.
'MBIE is working hard to contact firms and understand the reasons for price increases,' she said.
Many of the complaints related to every day food staples such as vegetables, flour, bread, and meat, she said.
'We are working closely with supermarkets, and growers, to understand the reasons for the price increases,' the spokeswoman said.
'We understand that there are many valid reasons for various price increases. Some of the price increases would have happened regardless of Covid-19, while others can be explained by fewer discounted lines.'
Other products and services that have featured frequently were cigarettes from non-supermarket sources, hand sanitiser, face-masks, rental vehicles and other travel related purchases, whiteware and electronic goods.
'It is not illegal for businesses to increase their prices, however the Fair Trading Act prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct and false representations,' she said.
'This means that if a business gives a reason for a price increase it must be true, otherwise the business risks breaching the law.'
If you suspect a business is providing false or misleading information as to why prices have increased, you can make a complaint to the Commerce Commission, the spokeswoman said.