Variations in Grocery Prices Within Dublin: Some Tests of Their Stability

Previous work on retail grocery products in Dublin has demonstrated the existence of significant price variations for a basket of goods on the basis of a number of independent variables, particularly organisational structure of the store. This paper extends this work by taking samples of grocery baskets of different sizes and analyses the resultant price variations. Although there is considerable stability in the price variations between different types of stores, there is much less stability in the geographical variation of prices amongst stores belonging to the same organisational type. This gives some indication of the information problems facing the consumer when choosing which store to patronise.