How Much Do Online Grocery Stores Cost In Malaysia?

Online supermarkets get rid of everything that makes grocery shopping a hassle – commuting, long queues and feeling self-conscious about stacking your trolley with your favourite junk food.

In the past few years, more supermarkets have opened their virtual doors to shoppers – but which offers the cheapest prices?

Comparison of online grocery stores in Malaysia

Here’s how some of the more popular grocery stores in Malaysia stack up:

All the online stores deliver to the Klang Valley, and a few to Penang and Malacca – but beyond that, you’re out of luck.

Each platform has different minimum order requirements and delivery fees. Jaya Grocer is the easiest to qualify for free shipping (minimum RM50), and there isn’t any minimum order amount.

Giant and Village Grocer don’t have their own online platforms, but you can still shop from them via Happyfresh, depending on the stores’ availability for your delivery address.

Aeon has its own newly launched online shopping platform at https://fresh.myaeon.com.my, but we chose to compare prices using Happyfresh’s platform, as there seemed to a larger variety of products and clearer pricing structure (prices were listed according to weightage, instead of per piece or packet). If you prefer ordering directly through Aeon, delivery charges are RM8, delivery hours are from 11am to 7pm, you can get your groceries delivered on the same day if you order before 5.30pm and there is no minimum order.

Which is the cheapest online supermarket?

Which grocery store offers the cheapest prices? We compared the costs of a few items:

Here’s our takeaway from looking at these numbers:

• Giant and Tesco offered the most competitive prices overall, followed by Redtick and Aeon.
• Jaya Grocer and Village Grocer are slightly pricier.

However, sometimes you do get what you pay for. Our internal survey (a very unscientific process that involved pestering a few colleagues to share their grocery shopping experiences) suggests that while prices at places like Jaya Grocer and Village Grocer are higher, the quality of their fresh meat and produce are better than those in cheaper supermarkets.

In pricier supermarkets, you may find a larger variety of imported or premium products. For example, MyGroser offered slightly more expensive prices for the products we compared, but it had a wide selection of frozen meat and cuts that would be harder to find in other online stores, such as racks of lamb and blocks of ribeye.

Cut down grocery costs by going store brand

But beyond fresh food items, there aren’t huge price differences when comparing the same brands across each supermarket, unless there was a promotion going on. You could shave a couple of ringgit at Tesco or Giant, compared to shopping for the exact same brands in other supermarkets, but the savings may not be substantial.

Keeping grocery costs down (for non-fresh food items) isn’t so much about where you shop, but what brands you buy. Simply opting for cheaper brands (or store brand items) will save you more money than trying to find the cheapest supermarket for certain items. For example, four boxes of Tesco two-ply tissue cost RM8.99, while a brand name counterpart can cost RM13.99.

If you want to save costs on groceries – without compromising too much on quality – you could:

• Buy fresh meat and produce from higher-end supermarkets
• Buy non-fresh food items from more affordable supermarkets
• Swap brand name items for store brand ones

After all, better quality meat and vegetables could be healthier (and taste better), but a more expensive brand of rubber gloves may not have the same effect on your quality of life.

Which brings us to our next question…

Giant vs Tesco: who has the cheapest store brand items?

Giant and Tesco both offer store brand items – but which is cheaper? (Aeon also has store brand items under its Big Value line, but we omitted them in our comparison as they were not listed on Happyfresh.)

In our small sample, Tesco is slightly cheaper, but only by a hairline. But with 1,700+ store brand items available, Tesco does have more choices compared to 250+ items in Giant Subang Jaya.

Save more with a grocery shopping credit card

Finally, here’s the easiest way to save on your groceries – just pay with the right credit card. Here are a few cards that give you cashback or reward points when you shop for groceries:

If you’ve skimmed through the article to get to the conclusion, here’s what you need to know about online supermarkets: Tesco and Giant are the cheapest options. But when it comes to non-fresh food items, the price differences aren’t substantial – you may save more by opting for cheaper brands or store brand items. Tesco offers the widest range and most affordable store brand items.

If you’re still looking for more tips on how to cut down on everyday expenses, check out how much you can save by eating healthy or how to avoid overspending on weekends. Or if you’ve got a favourite grocery shopping hack, share it with us below!