Consumers call foul over price variations on delivers apps

AMMAN — Citizens are calling on the government to monitor the prices of grocery and food delivery applications, as they claim applications have increase the prices of delivered goods. 

Grocery and food delivery services have become the norm for many people in the last couple of years as shopping habits have shifted, and on-demand delivery is increasingly convenient and available. 

However, citizens claim that prices on applications differ “significantly” from in-store prices.

“If you order a meal through an application, you will pay at least one dinar extra than calling the restaurant and having them deliver the same meal to your doorstep,” Amman resident Abdallah Al Daoud told The Jordan Times. 

In an attempt to verify the validity of Daoud’s claim, The Jordan Times contacted a restaurant and checked the price of meal through one of the delivery applications. 

The price of a double chicken shawarma meal from an Amman-based restaurant was JD3.70 if purchased directly from the restaurant. However, the same meal was for JD4.45 through the applications — before any additional delivery or service charges. 

“Delivery-service prices vary significantly from in-store prices,” Sewar Jazazi, another citizen, told The Jordan Times. 

Jazazi stated that authorities should monitor prices and put a price cap for the service fees imposed by service providers. 

Marketing and social media specialist Bayan Odeh told The Jordan Times that the pricing is a marketing approach used widely by delivery service applications.

Delivery-service applications increase the prices of goods and for a limited time, offer free delivery service to convince customers that that they will end up saving money, said Odeh. 

According to Odeh, this is a psychological trick used by service providers to convince customers that they are getting free services when ordering through the application. 

Meanwhile, Ghada, who works for a supermarket in Amman, told The Jordan Times that application prices don’t differ from store prices. 

“The only difference is that we have store-only offers and discounts, which can't be delivered through applications,” Ghada added. 

Ghada added that the supermarket she works at guarantees that delivery service customers pay the same price as store buying customers.

Maha Mahrouq, who orders all of her groceries online, told The Jordan Times that there’s a remarkable difference in the prices of merchandise purchased online and in stores.

However, Mahrouq said that buying groceries online is probably cheaper when you factor in gas money, time spent, and effort put. 

Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply spokesperson Yanal Barmawi told The Jordan Times that the ministry doesn’t monitor prices on applications. 

However, applications are “obliged” to stick to the prices of the stores, “which are intensively monitored by the ministry’s monitoring and inspection units,” Barmawi said.