Bar Soap And Detergent Price Check, What Shoppers Pay At Five Major Supermarkets

Laundry day just got a little more expensive to plan for, or a little cheaper, depending on where you shop.

A look at current prices from Naivas, Quickmart, Carrefour, Magunas and Cleanshelf reveals just how much prices for everyday soap and detergent swing from one supermarket to the next, even for products that look nearly identical on the shelf.

Bar Soap

Menengai’s cream bar soap is a good place to start, since it’s stocked almost everywhere. Naivas and Quickmart both price the 1kg bar at KSh230, and Magunas is close at KSh229.

Carrefour only stocks an 800g version at KSh184, which sounds like a bargain until you do the math per kilogram, at which point it’s actually pricier than the others. Cleanshelf, meanwhile, sells a 900g Menengai Lemon Bar for KSh206.

Jamaa bar soap tells a similar story of promotions muddying the comparison. Naivas has it marked down to KSh189 for 1kg, while Quickmart charges KSh250 for the same size with no discount applied.

Carrefour sits in between at KSh217, also a promotional price, as Cleanshelf’s own take on cream soap, the Zenta brand, comes in at KSh225 per kilo.

A lower shelf price doesn’t always mean a better deal once you account for pack size. An 800g bar and a 1kg bar are not the same purchase, even if they look similar side by side.

Bar Soap Prices

Detergent

Toss, one of the more popular powder brands, ranges from KSh320 at Carrefour up to KSh352 at Naivas, a difference of over 30 shillings on what’s supposed to be the same product. Quickmart and Cleanshelf land somewhere in the middle, at KSh345 and KSh340 respectively.

Budget-friendly options show their own spread too as Quickmart’s Msafi White Detergent goes for KSh238 a kilo, noticeably cheaper than most of the premium alternatives on this list.

At the other end, Carrefour stocks Ariel Washing Powder at KSh355 per kilo and Persil liquid detergent at a hefty KSh2,499 for 3 litres, a reminder that brand name still commands a real premium in this category.

Toss Detergent Powder is down to KSh352 from what was previously KSh440, and Persil Washing Detergent Lavender has dropped to KSh399 from KSh489. Its Classic Detergent Lily Fresh, in a smaller 500g pack, is going for just KSh85 while the promotion lasts.

Detergent Prices

Naivas beats Carrefour on some detergents and loses to it on others; the same goes for Quickmart versus Cleanshelf. What the numbers do suggest is that shoppers buying in bulk, or stocking up on soap and detergent for the month, stand to gain from a quick price check rather than defaulting to whichever store is closest.

For households watching their budgets, a few minutes of comparison shopping, even just online, could shave a meaningful amount off a monthly grocery run.

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