The government’s ‘e-Kalathi’ application falls “well below consumers’ expectations”, the consumers’ association said on Monday.

“Unfortunately, the promises made to us were flatly not kept and consumers were left unprotected once again,” it said.

It said that when evaluating the application a week after its launch, it found that while it was initially promised that the application would include 3,000 products, only 478 different products were listed.

“They promised that consumers would be given the opportunity to see the total cost of their basket of shopping. Practically and technically, this possibility does not exist. Consumers have to look for each product separately to find the cheapest supermarket,” it said.

It also criticised the lack of a function which would allow consumers to compare supermarkets, and their prices close to their location.

“There is no possibility of comparing prices at a specific distance from a consumer’s home. The comparison is made within each district. There is no possibility of identifying common products in the basket so that a comparison can be made between supermarkets,” it said.

It also alleged malice on the part of the government, saying that “the possibility of comparing all the products in a basket between supermarkets was deliberately not created”.

In addition, it said, “organised consumer groups were deliberately not given the opportunity to express their opinions throughout the consultation and in the setting up of the application”.

It then added that the application’s current form “does not promote competition between supermarkets”, saying that on the contrary, prices have gone up as much as they have gone down since the application was launched.

“Out of 27 supermarket companies with a total of 148 stores, in a basket of 71 products, seven supermarkets increased the total price of their products, while seven reduced it. Thirteen supermarkets did not modify their total price,” it said.

“Unfortunately, e-Kalathi proved to be far below consumers’ expectations … its usefulness is very limited.”

The e-Kalathi platform was designed to inform consumers about the prices of essential goods and allow them to compare the prices thereof.

Once fully operational, the platform is expected to list several thousands of products available in supermarkets with an annual turnover of €5 million. Its stated aim is to allow consumers to compare prices of everyday products at different supermarkets.