The chicken wars are heating up. This morning, Blue Square Israel Ltd. (NYSE: BSI; TASE: BSI) brand Mega Bool has slashed the price of fresh chickens to just NIS 0.01 (one agora) on purchases of more than NIS 150 at its supermarket in the Haifa suburb of Nesher. Since Israel no longer mints a one agora coin, the chickens are effectively free.
Yesterday, Blue Square's rival, Shufersal Ltd. (TASE:SAE;Pink Sheets:SSLTF) brand Shufersal Deal and Mega Bool both cut chicken prices to NIS 0.49. This morning, independent supermarket chain Rami Levy Chain Stores Hashikma Marketing 2006 Ltd. (TASE:RMLI) responded by offering chickens for NIS 0.39 at its store in Nesher, subject to a purchase of NIS 150.
For the past several days, Mega Bool has been offering a NIS 1 package deal on Tnuva Food Industries Ltd. milk in 1-liter bags, Tara Dairies Labane cheese, a baguette, and one kilogram of tomatoes at its Nesher store, irrespective of any other purchase.
Earlier this week, Rami Levy announced even larger discounts: Tnuva's Sky cheese, a Tnuva yellow cheese, and a 500-gram loaf of sliced basic bread for NIS 0.50, irrespective of any other purchase.
The Mega Bool supermarket in Nesher is just 100 meters from the Shufersal Deal supermarket and one kilometer from a Stopmarket supermarket. Rami Levy opened its supermarket at the same location today. Many small supermarkets and grocery stores also operate in the area.
The price wars at Nesher are considered to be just the opening shots that will spread.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 19, 2009
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