Melbourne Coles vs Shanghai Hema: A Small Comparison of the Cost of Living

Long time no see, friends of the channel~! A belated happy new year to you all! 🧨

After spending a long holiday back home, I've been dragging my feet on updates, but those days were blissful. Upon returning to Melbourne, the first order of business was to stock up on supplies, so I headed to the nearest Coles. On the way home, we couldn't help but lament the cost of living in Melbourne. After getting home, OneSe7en got the sudden urge to see just how expensive things really were, so he added the same/similar items (with the same/similar weight) to the shopping cart on Hema (setting the location to our old address in Shanghai).

You don't realize the difference until you compare. The total price at Hema was 762.13 yuan, while at Coles it was 106 Aussie dollars (505.60 yuan). The same/similar items were actually not cheaper at Hema, and in some cases, even more expensive - we almost couldn't believe it. We've always had the impression that Melbourne was more expensive than Beijing and Shanghai. The result of this comparison really surprised us. You can see the details in the pictures. Of course, this isn't a scientific experiment, so it's not 100% rigorous.

There are several reasons for this. On one hand, the local/imported nature of products could make them cheaper or more expensive in different countries, such as blueberries and cherries. On the other hand, packaging costs might play a part; most of what we bought at Coles was unpackaged, while Hema provided packaged goods. Recent news mentioned complaints about Coles and Woolworths price monopolies, with both supermarkets facing a wave of government scrutiny at the start of the year. This is not hard to link to the supermarkets' recent discounts, and some have found that the prices of some meats are the lowest they've been in nearly four years. However, personally, I haven't noticed a significant change, since these items are frequently discounted anyway. The difference is more evident with seasonal fruits and vegetables, like blueberries and tomatoes, which are indeed cheaper in summer (3-5 dollars/kg in summer vs. 7-10 dollars/kg in winter). Additionally, if you live in Shanghai or Beijing, your shopping habits, especially regarding fruits, would naturally differ. Instead of Australian blueberries or cherries, you'd likely opt for local fruits or other types of fruit. And of course, there'd be no holding back on buying chili peppers!

There are quite a few followers of this channel from China, so if you're interested, you can also try comparing the same/similar items in your city, or compare imported items with their local counterparts.