Hi it's Wassim from Burger Index,

On this week’s BI Insights, we looked at one of the hardest problems in grocery competitive intelligence:

How do you compare prices when products don’t always match?

We used Carrefour, Dia, Mercadona and Caprabo in Barcelona to show how different levels of product matching solve this. 

Barcode Matching

When the same barcode exists across retailers, the match is straightforward.

Same SKU. Same product. Clean price comparison.

But barcodes aren’t always available, so relying on them alone limits how much of a competitor’s assortment you can benchmark.

Exact Matching

When barcodes are missing, Burger Index uses attributes such as brand, product name, size and pack configuration to identify the same SKU.

This turns differently structured catalogues into like-for-like comparisons.

In our Barcelona example, Mercadona has the cheapest basket at €43.68 versus €47.99 at Carrefour.

Once products are matched, grocery teams can see where they are more or less expensive at a product and basket level.

Similar Matching

But what happens when the exact SKU simply doesn’t exist?

Using Carrefour as the source, we matched five products with the closest alternatives at Dia, Mercadona and Caprabo.

The differences are meaningful. Carrefour’s ground black pepper is €0.85, for example, while the closest alternatives range from €1.10 at Dia to €1.85 at Mercadona and €1.20 at Caprabo.

They aren’t identical SKUs, but they compete for the same customer need.

Unmatched doesn’t have to mean uncomparable.

Barcode matching gives the cleanest connection. Exact matching expands like-for-like coverage. Similar matching takes the analysis beyond identical SKUs.

Together, they let grocery teams benchmark more of the market across pricing, assortment gaps and comparable alternatives.

👉 Book a demo at www.burgerindex.com to see how it looks in your market