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Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 16, 2021 (SKNIS): The Department of Consumer Affairs has made it easier for consumers to easily access shopping options through the SKN Shopper App.

“The Consumer Affairs Department has digitized the information, the prices of goods so that the service can be more efficient. It is a partnership between the department, the business, and the consumer, so it makes life easier at the end of the day,” said Tanja Morton, Senior Consumer Affairs Officer on the April 14 edition of ‘Working for You’. “You can do a price comparison for whichever supermarket so you can know actually before you go to do your shopping where you are going to shop.”

Mr. Morton noted that officers from the department visit supermarkets to collect prices to place information into the system which will then be listed on the app.

“We gather prices from four major supermarkets in Basseterre and from that an analysis is done and then we keep track of the price fluctuation and so we produce a quarterly report for that,” he said. “The information is also uploaded to the SKN Shopper App and so consumers get first-hand information on the prices in the supermarkets, on the shelf without actually stepping foot into the supermarket.”

The Consumer Affairs Department also works alongside the Ministry of Finance concerning gas prices.

“We also receive data from the Ministry of Finance who is responsible for assigning gas prices. We do analysis comparison and so it’s a comprehensive work that we keep track of all of these different changes in price in the market, in trends, and at the end of the day it is all about educating consumers so that they can be better informed,” said Mr. Morton.

In February 2017, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis launched the SKN Shopper App which provides up-to-date information on current prices of goods at various supermarkets in the Federation. It also allows shoppers to search products and compare prices from different zones throughout the Federation. 

The App is available for download via the Apple and Google Play Stores.