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Food prices continue to rise: consumers suffer from high costs!
The University of Hohenheim looks at 25 years of statutory basic price displays and its meaning for consumers.
Food prices continue to rise: consumers suffer from high costs!
On August 19, 2025, Germany will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the legal obligation to display basic prices in supermarkets. This regulation ensured that consumers no longer only see the final price on price tags, but also see the basic price per unit of quantity, for example per liter or 100 grams. Before the turn of the millennium, it was commonplace that customers in the supermarket often only had the final price available, which posed considerable difficulties for many consumers. A study of the University of Hohenheim from 1991 impressively addressed this problem.
The study revealed that only one out of twenty test subjects was able to correctly solve the arithmetic tasks required to determine the cheapest product. The test subjects needed an average of 19 minutes and paid 7.5 percent more than necessary because they did basic calculations incorrectly. This led to growing pressure on politicians and retail associations to make in-store pricing more transparent.
Price transparency reforms
The results of the study ultimately led to a legal basis for the basic price indication for prepackaged goods coming into force on September 1, 2000. Until then, there was no obligation to state the base price for many standardized packaging sizes. Dr. Wolfgang Frey, who led the study, found that many prepackaged packages had insufficient information, making it much more difficult for consumers to compare prices.
With the change in the law, dealers were now obliged to clearly and unambiguously indicate not only the final price, but also the basic price. The mandatory information applies not only to goods in ready-made packages, but also to open packages or as sales units without packaging. Since May 28, 2022, it has also been stipulated that 1 kilogram or 1 liter must be used as the unit of measurement for the basic price, which makes it easier to compare prices.
Current challenges for consumers
61 percent of consumers also feel that food prices are not fair or not fair at all. This has led to further calls for greater transparency in pricing. The vzbv is calling on the future federal government to take measures to combat high food prices and to set up a price observatory that records costs and prices along the value chain.
In summary, while the basic pricing legislation provides consumers with more information, pressure from rising food prices remains a significant challenge. Thinking towards more transparency and fair prices is essential to protect consumers' purchasing power.