A government website for comparing food prices in Cyprus is not working as planned, say consumer groups. The website, called e-kalathi, started six months ago. The goal was to help people find the cheapest groceries and make supermarkets compete more. This would help families with their shopping costs.
However, the Cyprus Consumers' Association says the website has mostly failed. Their study shows the website did not make expensive supermarkets lower their prices. Instead, they found that cheaper supermarkets raised their prices. So, the difference between expensive and cheap stores is now smaller, but not because things got better for shoppers.
The website lets people compare about 200 important products. But there are problems. Critics say supermarkets do not list all their products on the site. Also, since November, some stores have different prices for the same product in different branches. This makes it confusing for people to compare.
The study looked at prices from July, September, and November. It found some prices went up, like for personal care items. Some prices went down, like for bakery products. But overall, the consumer group says e-kalathi "failed to achieve its objectives."
The website is still there for people to use. But it is not creating strong competition between supermarkets. This situation shows that using digital tools to control prices is difficult. The government may now need to look at other ways to help shoppers in Cyprus.