The Bottom Line: Economic Wipe-out Leads to Toilet Paper Price War

The Bottom Line: Economic Wipe-out Leads to Toilet Paper Price War

Federal Government mandates disclosure of “cost per 100 sheets” of toilet paper while GetPrice traffic surges following Federal Government’s stimulus payments

The Federal Government’s requirement that supermarkets disclose the “cost per 100 sheets” of toilet paper means budget-conscious Australians have the ability to calculate the “cost per wipe” of their favourite toilet paper, according to Chris Hitchen, CEO of comparison shopping site, GetPrice.com.au.

“And yes, you can compare the cost of toilet rolls on GetPrice,” he said.

A quick check on GetPrice.com.au for ‘toilet paper’ shows the kinds of savings savvy shoppers can make. Prices vary from $1.81 per roll right the way down to just 62c.

Mr Hitchen - announcing GetPrice’s March monthly shopping index - said GetPrice traffic continues to surge as a result of the economic downturn and traffic was particularly strong following the Federal Government’s stimulus payments.

“The day Australians started receiving their stimulus payments was our biggest Thursday in history,” he said.

“We received more than 87,000 visits on March 12 and overall traffic increased 18 per cent during the past few weeks.”

He said the most popular items were TVs – up 8 per cent following the stimulus payments -, cheap BBQs and essential items such as shoes and clothing. Also popular were kitchen supplies, suggesting an increased tendency to eat at home as the recession bites.

“We’re not surprised at the popularity of kitchen supplies considering last month we started to see a decisive movement towards more affordable, closer to home lifestyle options,” Mr Hitchen said.

“For instance searches for domestic holidays and tents are more common along with home gyms as people seek to cut expensive gym fees. “Similarly retailers such as JB Hi Fi have been performing extremely well as people choose to stay at home with a few DVDs rather than splurge on more expensive nights out.”

Did you pay too much for any of these items last month? March’s biggest price differences on GetPrice:

• Motorola S805 Bluetooth Head Phone – prices ranged between $59 and $139, a difference of $80 (136 per cent)
• Samsung PS42A410 42 inch HD Plasma TV prices ranged between $1,167 and $1,438, a difference of $271 (23 per cent)
• Chanel Chance 100ml EDT Women’s Perfume – prices ranged between $157 and $218, a difference of $61 (39 per cent) -
• Acer Aspire One 1.6Ghz Laptop – prices ranged between $580 and $872, a difference of $292 (50 per cent)