Since December, the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) has become a data intermediary between the three largest food chains and price comparison tools, writes Latvijas Avīze.
"Rimi", "Lidl", and "Maxima" are now providing operational information on certain products daily. However, so far, only the company "Lēta pārtika", which is implementing the price comparison platform "Letapartika.lv", has officially requested data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) to create a price monitoring tool.
"It will get better, but I don’t think it will lead to any significant breakthrough," said Arturs Zykov, the creator of the "Cenudepo" tool, assessing the new order for obtaining data from supermarkets.
He has not yet submitted an application to the CSB but is preparing the necessary documents. When asked whether price comparison tools can influence the cost of products in stores, Zykov admitted that he has changed his mind:
"I used to be sure that price tools could influence the process, but now I’m not so sure."
According to his observations, price increases continue: the cost either rises gradually by a few cents or the weight of the packaging decreases, masking the actual price increase.
Nikola Skuyа, a representative of "Letapartika.lv" and a board member of LLC "Lēta pārtika", notes that integrating data through the CSB will reflect the offers of the most in-demand retail chains, improve process automation, and enhance data quality. The freed-up time is planned to be directed towards developing functionality, including personalization and more informative displays of inflation data.
According to the CSB, from May to October, food prices overall decreased by 0.2%. Skuyа is convinced that connecting a wider range of retailers will increase transparency and competition in the industry: "Our goal is to reflect the offers of all food retailers to ensure a comprehensive price comparison. However, creating the technical infrastructure for data transmission is challenging, especially for small retailers whose systems are often non-standardized or incompatible with automated transmission. Therefore, we are persistently reaching out to all retailers and offering assistance with technical issues for gradual integration."
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