Getting the Cheapest Groceries in the Shortest Time: Is the Price Kaki App Worth It?

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05 Jul 2020

When I heard about the launch of Price Kaki, boy was I excited.

I’m that person who would head to different supermarkets just to compare the prices of my cup noodles before settling on one.

Price comparison has always been a MUST for me in order to stretch every (limited) dollar I had.

So when Price Kaki was introduced, it just seemed perfect to me.

Doing a comparison with just a click on my phone?

While the idea sounds wonderful, is the app really useful, or is it just another which would eventually disappear into the dark abyss of our phones?

What is Price Kaki?

Launched by The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), Price Kaki is the first mobile app in Singapore that allows you to compare in-store prices of groceries, household items, and even hawker food through a single platform.

It aims to help us save time and money when we plan for your next shopping trip or dinner.

In addition, users get to earn rewards through contributing updates on the prices to keep the information current.

Anyone can use Price Kaki to:

View and compare in-store prices and promotions
Filter and sort listings by price, distance, supermarket and more
Get updates on price changes
Earn rewards
Explore supermarkets and hawker centres nearby

Price Kaki currently covers over 278 participating supermarkets stores including NTUC FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Giant and Prime Supermarket, and 94 hawker centres across Singapore.

Trying the App

Signing up was fuss-free. Only your phone number is required for OTP verification.

Once you enter the app, you’re brought to the main page.

You can select the location and set the radius of your search.

After setting my radius, I tried looking for eggs that were nearby, and was shown what was available.

I could filter by its distance, price, and most recently updated.

With this filter, I could look for items based on my priority – whether it’s the cheapest, or nearest.

I decided that I was interested in Chew’s Fresh Eggs Omega 6.

Clicking into it allowed me to compare prices between different supermarkets, and also its bundle promotions.

Noice.

There was an option that allowed me to add it to my shopping list too, where I would be notified when there are any price changes.

I foresee this feature being useful for common grocery items, where I could stock up whenever there’s a sale going on.

Another feature was the bar code feature, where I could scan the bar code while shopping to check the item’s price as compared to its competitors.

I tried this function on one of my favoritest food.

Noticing that the promotional price wasn’t captured, I tried to submit its newly updated price.

While shopping, I spotted the all-time famous Haichijia sour and spicy noodles (aka suan la fen) and decided to give it a try too.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t updated in the system yet.

Couldn’t find the cheapest suan la fen. 😢

Types of Rewards

In order to encourage users to keep the app as up-to-date as possible, there is a leader board and you have the chance to WIN VOUCHERS. 🤑

Every season lasts two weeks, and users (with the highest rank points) at the end of each season get awarded with grocery, F&B, movie and transport vouchers.

Gift vouchers range from $5 – $250!

The breakdown of the rewards are as below:

Sweet.

How Do You Earn Rank Points?

To encourage users to use the app frequently, a daily login bonus will be given once one opens the app.

My first login prompted me to get my first 50 points.
In addition, you get 20 points for submitting a new price, and 20 Rank Points for submitting a new promotion.

I took a look at how many points the top scorers currently have.

32400?! Mucho intenso.

Closing Thoughts

As we have seen, the app is still not the most comprehensive, with the prices being heavily reliant on users submitting price updates via the app.

With the user base still currently expanding, this means that price updates might not be the quickest and might not reflect most accurately.

However, I do believe this would improve as more people start using it.

Additionally, the inventory currently seems limited to more commonly seen items, so this app might currently be more useful for common household brands and groceries.

I do find the search function for hawker food pretty interesting, given that we can now filter for the cheapest or nearest chicken rice.

That being said, I doubt I will use this function if I were to look for food near my place, since we would usually head to our favourite stalls.

But I could see it being used as an exploration tool to look for new makan spots around my hood.

Also, this function might be useful if I were out somewhere else and would like to look for some hawker options.

All in all, as this app is still at its infancy, I can see its potential and how it could expand its reach and functionality over time.

Especially when we are living in such a digitally savvy environment now.

Are you interested in Price Kaki?

You can download it from the App Store or Google Play Store!