Cheaper than locally: ordering food online in Sweden
You're living in Sweden and trying to save money by shopping at Netto, ALdi or LIDL? Read on - there might be cheaper alternatives to buy some of your food!
When I was visiting the US i frequently shopped food at Amazon.com. Since that time I have always been jealous of the assortment, prices and delivery speed of Amazon’s grocery department, advantages that haven’t been available to Swedish residents - until recently, that is.
Amazon has local sites in many larger countries around the world, though none in the Scandinavian countries. Still, many Swedes are used to ordering books from Amazon.co.uk or one of the other Amazon branches inside the European Union (in order to avoid customs). However, the delivery of grocery items has traditionally been restricted to the primary country of each Amazon branch - e.g. their UK site would only deliver groceries to the UK and possibly Northern Ireland.
Thus I was pretty excited when I recently discovered that Amazon.de had loosened their restrictions and now offered to ship some groceries to Sweden and other countries. Our kids just love Chili con carne and when time is of the essence (as I guess it is for most parents), Knorr’s “Chili con Carne” is a tasty and not-too-unhealthy way to save time while preparing the childrens’ favorite dinner. If you are asked to prepare the same dish once in a while, buying it in bulk through Amazon.de can save you money despite the additional shipping costs.
Here’s an example based on the above product as an example:
| Shop | Item | Price | Shipping | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIDL | 25 x Knorr Chili con Carne | 25 x SEK 11.90 = SEK 297.50 | SEK 0 | SEK 297.50 |
| Amazon.de | 25 x Knorr Chili con Carne | EUR 20.68 = SEK 176.03 | EUR 5.90 = SEK 50.22 | SEK 226.25 |
So even a “small” order of 25 bags of Knorr products can save you SEK 71.25 (not taking the time for going to the nearest LIDL shop versus going to the nearest post office into account).
Now SEK 71.25 doesn’t sound like a huge amount, but if you order several products together the savings can easily mean a couple of hundred SEK more in your pocket. Of course, whether this way of shopping is worth it for you depends on a couple of factors, such as the variation of dinner dishes you prepare, your distance to the supermarkets versus your distance to the post office etc., but I hope this idea is helpful to somebody.