Is it cheaper to shop for your daily goods in Germany, the US or elsewhere? Here’s a look at the cost of some basic products in Germany’s popular drugstore chain, and how those prices compare abroad.
With near constant news about the cost of living climbing ever higher, it’s easy to lose sight of a simple truth about life in Germany: basic goods are cheap here.
A small reminder can be seen in a recent social media trend, where people have started making videos about the price of basic goods – typically to highlight how cheap certain items are compared to what a largely American audience on Tiktok or similar apps is used to.
Some Americans who have moved to Germany, as well as some Germans who have come back from living abroad, have joined in on the trend, showing prices for some common items at their nearby discount supermarket or drugstore.
If you’ve already lived in Germany for some years, this kind of video may feel pretty useless. But the impact of this kind of content is found in the comments, where international viewers express absolute shock over how cheap things are.
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In response to this video highlighting prices for basic healthcare products in DM, for example, one commentor wrote, “So what city in Germany should I move to?”
Another person wrote: “*dies in Canadian* so….we moving to Germany?”
And it’s not only Americans and Canadians expressing envy of German prices.
“I live in the Netherlands and we always go to Germany for groceries!” reads another comment.
To get a sense of how the cost of basic items in Germany really stacks up against comparable products in other countries, we took a walk through the nearest DM, taking note of the prices of some daily necessities.
Here’s how the prices in Germany compare to different countries around the world. (All costs given in Euros based on the current exchange rates at the time of writing.)
If you need hand soap in Germany, 0.5L of liquid milk-and-honey scented cream soap (Cremeseife) will cost you a whopping 65 cents. That’s including the bottle with the hand-pump spout (not a refill bag).
Looking at Walmart’s website, shoppers in the US can get a comparable product for about 90 cents but it comes in a significantly smaller container (184 millilitres). To get the same volume of soap, you’d need about three of them at a total price of around €2.70.
Generic toothpaste is another cheap item in Germany. It can be as cheap as 65 cents per tube for DM’s “Clear fresh” brand. Whereas the cheapest regular-sized tube at Walmart is about one euro.
Germany sometimes loses its cost advantage, however, if you prefer a specific brand. It’ll cost you €1.65 at DM for a tube of Colgate ‘Komplett,’ for example, whereas you can get the same-sized tube of Colgate ‘Cavity Protection’ for just 96 cents in the US at Walmart.
Prices at Walmart Canada were comparable.
If it’s coconut water you’re after, you can find that at DM too, where a litre of the imported beverage will set you back €2.95.
Alternatively, if you were to buy a litre of coconut water at Tesco in the UK it would set you back €4.49, although with a club card it drops down to a comparable €2.87.
READ ALSO: Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich – How expensive is life in Germany’s big cities?
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Women’s items
A 200 pack of generic Q-tips, or cotton swabs, (Wattestäbchen) go for 95 cents at DM in Germany – with organic cotton no less.
If you’ve recently come from India, that might not sound like a great deal. A pack of 100 cotton swabs can be found on the IndiaMart export website for about 17 cents, so 34 cents for 200 of them. (That’s a wholesale price, but it gives a sense of how cheap the product would be at markets in the country.)
But people shopping in the US would pay a similar price to that seen in DM.
For soaps and shampoos, however, Germany’s prices are hard to beat at comparable retailers in the US, the UK or Canada.
Generic scented bodywash (Duschgel), for example goes for as little as 55 cents at DM, whereas a similar product at Walmart is priced €2.69.
But perhaps the most dramatic price difference is found between women’s hygiene products in Germany versus the US. In the above mentioned video, the creator highlights a pack of 24 pads for €3.95. The cheapest boxes of 24 pads to be found on the US Walmart website are about €10 and €15 respectively.
READ ALSO: Seven expert tips to reduce your heating bills in Germany
Men’s items
When it comes to men’s items, the price of razors appears to be generally comparable across the board, with generic razors with disposable multi-blade heads going for around €10 whether you shop in the Germany or the US or the UK.
One exception is India, with the IndiaMart export website having some comparable looking products for around a euro or less.
But once again, prices in Germany are hard to beat when it comes to soap, shampoo and similar cosmetic products.
Men’s beard shampoo at DM cost €7.95 for 300 millilitres. Among the better deals at Walmart in the US is 5 ounces (about 180 millilitres) for €5.80. Ounce for ounce, it comes out to be significantly more in the US.
Deodorant prices are roughly comparable between DM and Walmart. But anecdotally, if you’re concerned about aluminium in your deodorant, you’ll find a wider selection to choose from in Europe, whereas in the US most brands tends to have it with the exception being ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ branded products.
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It is worth noting that there are select items, however, where prices in the US, UK or other countries are comparable or even cheaper.
These tend to be specific name brand products that are produced outside Germany.
When it comes to Ricola cough drops, for example, which are made by a Swiss-based company, the price is virtually the same at either DM or Walmart: €2.35 for a 75 gram (19 count) bag.
For a Philip’s ‘One Blade’ electric razor, Walmart in the US has it for about €25, whereas in Germany you can expect to pay around €45.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
