The questions are designed to gain an insight into market circumstances and data transparency from the perspective of these price comparison sites.
Price comparison sites help consumers to get a quick overview of prices. Quick price comparisons can increase transparency from the consumers’ point of view and generally contribute to the strengthening of competition.
At present, these Austrian sites vary greatly in size. Some of these transparency initiatives are currently only offered in Austria by private individuals on a non-commercial basis.
The AFCA sent questions to seven of the more well-known price comparison sites in order to better understand how they work, how they collect data and their factual and legal framework conditions.
Steps taken in the food industry inquiry so far:
- October 2022: AFCA launches inquiry into food industry (press release of 25 October 2022)
- March 2023: AFCA conducts online survey of 1,500 suppliers to the four largest Austrian food retailers (press release of 17 March 2023)
- April 2023: AFCA starts survey of 13 online food retailers (press release of 27 April 2023