A price-watch campaign by an army of housewives has pressured ParknShop and Wellcome to change their pricing policy, the DAB says.
Ip Kwok-him, a vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said 'public pressure has forced major supermarket chains to narrow their price differences' between stores, although some products were still priced differently in various outlets of the same chain.
Conducted on Monday, the latest survey - comparing average prices for select items at Wellcome and ParknShop - found 76 items cost the same at the two supermarkets, up from 16 last month. There were also fewer products - 91 items this time against 157 - that cost more in one chain than the other.
Among the price of 10 basic items - such as packaged food items and shampoo - collected at more than 80 ParknShop outlets on May 7, the largest price difference was for a can of Greatwall chopped pork and ham. It cost HK$21 at one of its shops in Sham Shui Po but HK$9.90 at a store in Tseung Kwan O - a difference of HK$11.10, or 112.1 per cent.
But in the latest price watch on Monday this difference had narrowed. It was selling at HK$18.90 at a ParknShop in Wan Chai and HK$10.80 in Yuen Long - a difference of HK$8.10, or 75 per cent.
At Wellcome, the biggest price difference dropped from 126.6 per cent last month to 63.6 per cent.