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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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COST OF LIVING

Why are mobile plans in Norway so expensive?

Compared to those in neighbouring countries, the prices of mobile plans in Norway are pretty high. Here's why.

Published: 28 March 2023 11:58 CEST
Why are mobile plans in Norway so expensive?

Once you move to Norway, getting a Norwegian phone number will likely be among the first items on your to-do list.

After some research and comparison of different plans, you’ll quickly realise that the price of mobile services in the country is quite high – even compared to prices in other Scandinavian countries.

The most recent study on the issue, carried out by the Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom), stated that the price of mobile services is so high compared to neighbouring countries that there is a need to regulate the mobile market in Norway.

Key drivers of high mobile prices

The Norwegian mobile services market is characterised by what many describe as a duopoly – Telenor and Telia (which also own several other mobile providers) have a highly dominant position in the marketplace.

On top of that, mobile service customers in Norway are quite reluctant to change their providers.

According to the Communications Authority, Norwegian end users of mobile plans are generally most concerned with mobile coverage when choosing a mobile services company, and surveys show that Telenor’s customers have strong preferences for Telenor’s network, which means that many do not want to switch to other providers.

Furthermore, the cost of developing infrastructure in Norway is considerably more expensive than in neighbouring countries.

In 2021, Telia Norge stated that, according to European Union (EU) calculations, “it is between 30-60 per cent more expensive to build infrastructure in Norway than in Sweden.”

Lastly, as operators often point out, customers have to pay high prices because the network in Norway is characterised by high speeds.

What can be done?

The Norwegian Consumer Council believes that only increased competition in the market can reduce the price difference between Norway and the rest of the region.

As any new competitor would also need to deal with the high expenses of building new infrastructure – often in areas where the customer base doesn’t justify such investments – the consumer watchdog is calling for the dominant players to share some of their infrastructure with would-be challengers.

Unless competition increases, the situation is likely to stay the same.

“Telenor still has a strong market position in Norway, and no other mobile provider in Norway or our neighbouring countries has as good earnings per customer as Telenor in Norway,” Inger Vollstad, section head at Nkom, noted in a recent press release.

Need for regulation?

As the authority for the sector, Nkom is charged with ensuring that Norwegian consumers receive good and affordable mobile services.

The authority’s most important goal when it comes to regulating the mobile services market in Norway is to facilitate a third competitive mobile network that can challenge the two established network owners, Telenor and Telia.

“In order to facilitate choice and reasonable prices for mobile customers, Nkom has imposed obligations on Telenor to provide access to its network.

“In this way, challengers who do not have their own mobile network can offer mobile services and contribute to competition in the retail market,” Vollstad said.

In any case, as duopolies are very hard to dismantle once market domination is in place, even regulatory action could take quite some time before end consumers feel the results in the form of lower prices and better offers.

How to find a cheaper deal

Remember, the fact that the general price level of mobile plans is high does not mean you should just accept the first plan you see.

Compare prices between different providers before you commit, and make sure of comparison sites (such as Fornye) to get a good market overview. That way, you’ll be sure to get a better deal.

Negotiating with your current provider is also an option. If you’re unhappy with the price, call them up and ask them for a better deal. This works particularly well if you can point to a better deal from a competitor and threaten to leave them.

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