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COST OF LIVING

Cost of living: What are Norway’s best comparison sites for saving cash

With inflation pushing up the prices of most consumer products, people living in Norway are increasingly resorting to using comparison sites to make sure they get good deals – or at least that they don't get ripped off.

Published: 31 January 2023 16:08 CET
Online shopping
In this article, we will go through some of the best comparison sites you should use in Norway if you want to save money. Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

The cost of living crisis is exerting significant pressure on the personal finances of most Norwegian households.

According to a recent survey carried out by Norstat for the Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Oslo office, 70 percent of Norwegians are worried about their personal finances.

Furthermore, 77 percent say they will likely be able to afford to spend even less in the future as prices continue to rise.

The inflationary pressure in Norway has made comparison sites, which help users compare deals and save cash, more popular than ever.

In this article, we will go through some of the best comparison sites you should use in Norway if you want to save money.

Prisjakt

The price comparison site prisjakt.no is likely the most popular – and biggest – site of this sort in Norway.

Prisjakt.no enables consumers to compare product and service prices between a number of online stores so that they know they’re not paying more than they need to.

The site shows the lowest prices at the top of its product pages, as it is not possible for stores to pay to get a better position on Prisjakt – which is a nice consumer-oriented guarantee.

Along with price comparisons, you can also find other helpful information, including shipping costs and stock status, the price history of products, and reviews.

You can also get notified when the price is reduced or when a store receives a new product in stock, which can be a great timesaver.

Things to look out for: When it comes to the downsides, some consumers complain that the company is too strict when it comes to managing store reviews – especially critical ones.

Prisguiden

While Prisjakt is often considered the top comparison site in Norway, Prisguiden is a close second and is generally considered its leading competitor.

This price comparison site has been helping Norwegian consumers find great offers for more than 20 years. They cover around 700 stores and have 9 million products from 1,200 product categories on the site.

Prisguiden offers standard options such as price alerts, product price history, and a comprehensive page with the top deals of the day and week.

Things to look out for: Some users of the site claim that the number of stores included in the overview does not enable consumers to find the best offers, while others believe the search results include too many foreign stores and suspicious sites.

Kelkoo

Founded in 2000, Kelkoo is a shopping portal that helps users search through millions of products from hundreds of online stores in order to reach a more informed purchase decision.

The portal checks product data and prices from the online stores it covers several times a day and updates its result pages.

It offers thousands of trusted brands such as Apple, Sony, Philips, Microsoft, Nike, Adidas, Bosch, and Miele, as well as Norwegian household names such as Elkjøp.no, XXL.no, G-PORT / G-MAX.no, Jernia.no, and Megaflis.no.

Things to look out for: Note that the search results are not too extensive at times, and it might not be apparent which store is based in Norway and which isn’t at first glance (you’ll need to visit the pages Kelkoo.no recommends in the search results to find out).

Finansportalen

If you want to compare banking, financial, and insurance services, then Finansportalen.no is the place for you.

Finansportalen is a service offered by the Norwegian Consumer Council, which aims to give consumers the power and option to make good choices in the financial services market.

The portal offers a number of digital tools that help consumers compare banking, pension, insurance, and investment products.

Mattilbud

Sometimes shopping around is the only surefire way to save some cash. However, with all the legwork involved, it may not feel like it’s worth it.

Luckily, Norway’s Mattilbud app lets you collate and compare all the offers currently available in all of Norway’s major supermarkets.

The app shows you all the offers available in the supermarkets in your local area. Mattilbud includes prices and offers from Meny, Joker, REMA 1000, Bunnpris, Matkroken, Kiwi, Spar, Coop Prix, Coop Mega, Coop Marked, Obs, Extra and Europris.

Strømpris

Strømpris.no is another free service offered by the Norwegian Consumer Council. The site makes comparing prices and finding better electricity deals easier.

The comparison service is based on mandatory reporting from the power companies based on Norwegian regulations on reporting for power supply agreements.

That means that the companies are obliged to report their agreements to Strømpris.no by themselves.

FINN

While it’s not exactly a price comparison site, FINN.no is Norway’s biggest online marketplace. It has been on the market for roughly 23 years, and it is one of the most popular websites in the country.

According to the company’s website, on average, Norwegian spends an average of 30 hours on the site every year.

The site has a huge second-hand market, and on a typical day, there are around 300,000 listings and ads available on Finn.no at any given time. That means you’ll often find good deals on FINN – regardless of whether you are buying or selling.

Things to look out for: As is the case with most online marketplace platforms, there are also shady individuals using the site. Exercise common sense and be cautious before you commit to buying or selling anything on FINN. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If you’re interested in second-hand deals, you might want to read The Local’s guide on how to buy second-hand and save money in Norway. 

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MONEY

EXPLAINED: How wealthy is the ‘average’ Norwegian? 

Norway is known for its high wages and stable economy. New figures have revealed the wealth of the average resident in the Nordic country. 

Published: 23 April 2024 15:50 CEST
EXPLAINED: How wealthy is the 'average' Norwegian? 

High salaries go hand in hand with the high cost of living in conversations about Norway.

However, other factors, such as high homeownership rates, indicate that there is plenty of disposable income for locals to save and invest in their futures. 

Previous studies have also suggested that Norwegians are the seventh wealthiest nationals in the world. 

Norway’s national data agency, Statistics Norway, has compiled its own set of figures indicating that the average Norwegian household has a net wealth of around 3.8 million kroner. 

Net wealth accounts for everything a person owns, including property, stocks, or cash, minus any debts or liabilities. 

The vast majority of this wealth was derived from the estimated value of property. This alone gives the average Norwegian an estimated wealth of 3.74 million kroner. 

READ ALSO: How much does an apartment in Norway cost?

The value of second homes was included, which skewed things as only around 10 percent of households owned a secondary residence. 

The average price of a home in Norway was 4.5 million kroner in March of this year, and house prices have increased substantially in recent years. 

Savings, cash, stocks and other capital accounted for 1.72 million kroner, giving Norwegians an average wealth of 5.46 million kroner. Average debts of 1.68 million kroner gave Norwegians an average net wealth of 3.8 million kroner.  

The figures from Statistics Norway were obtained using figures from tax returns for 2022, which were submitted in 2023.  

Those aged between 67 and 79 years old were the wealthiest generation in Norway on average. This is partly because they have more capital than most other groups and more expensive property. 

However, the most significant factor is the lower levels of debt. They had half the debt of the next richest group, those aged between 55 and 69. 

Younger age groups weren’t as wealthier as they had much higher debts and lower capital. 

Still, Norway’s wealthiest individuals significantly boosted the average. When using the median, the average Norwegian household had a net wealth of just under 2 million kroner. 

When the median was applied to capital, the figure was 339,300 kroner compared to the average of 1.76 million kroner. 

The large difference in capital was attributed to Norway’s wealthiest individuals significantly pulling up the average. 

“This is mainly due to large fortunes in shares and securities, where a few own very much. Shares and other securities and share savings accounts are assets with a median value equal to zero, which indicates that these are not important asset items for most households,” the report said. 

Money kept in the bank was still important for most residents of Norway, though. The median value of bank deposits in Norway was 215,000 kroner, compared to the average of 600,000. 

The gulf between the average value of property owned and the median was roughly 500,000, with the median being 3.25 million kroner. 

Furthermore, Norway’s median debt level was around 860,000 kroner compared to the average of 1.67 million kroner. Around 85 percent of Norwegian households were in some form of debt. 

Significant differences also exist between Norway’s wealthiest and poorest residents. Residents belonging to the country’s poorest ten percent had an average net wealth of almost minus 1 million kroner. 

Meanwhile, Norway’s wealthiest ten percent had a net wealth of 19 million kroner. The top 50 percent also owned considerably more than the bottom 50 percent. 

“Despite the former comprising 1.27 million households, while the latter comprises approximately 25,000 households, the bottom 50 percent own only 4 percent of the total net worth, while the top 1 percent owned as much as 22.3 percent in 2022,” the report read. 

There was also significant variation in wealth depending on household type. For example, a single mother or father with a child aged between 6 and 17 had a net wealth of 2.24 million kroner, compared to a couple with children of the same age with an average net wealth of 5.12 million kroner. 

Typically, households with more than one person had more money as more than one wage earner likely lived at the address. 

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