Friday, 28 August 2009

Singapore's Ben and Jerry's Problem - the Price!

A brand name is worth its weight in gold. Singapore's distributors of Ben and Jerry's ice cream certainly seem to agree.
























Based on August 19 exchange rates Singapore is by far one of the world's most expensive cities to indulge in a pint of quality ice cream.
1.   Singapore:           10.28
2.   Paris:                    9.19
3.   Bangkok:               8.76
4.   Kuala Lumpur:        8.18
5.   London:                 6.60
6.   New York:              3.32
(Source: Wall Street Journal, 'Arbitrage'. All prices quoted in USD.)
Any guesses on how much McDonald's (one dollar) ice cream will retail for (in Singapore) if it were available in one pint containers?

13 comments:

  1. Hi- Ben and Jerry's is on offer at Tesco's (major UK supermarket) this week - 1.99 GBP per pint. Normal UK price is 3.99 per pint. Am not sure where you got your figure of 10.28 SGP from but was in Singapore just this month and Ben and Jerry's was about 14.20 S$ everywhere.

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  2. Hi B ... Thank's so much for reading and taking the time to post a comment.

    Your clarification makes the price an even bigger problem than I thought!!

    The prices were taken from the Wall Street Journal which runs an 'arbitrage' column from time to time.

    Thanks very much for the correction and I hope to hear from you again in the future.

    Kind regards,

    Imran

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  3. Hi B ... An addendum to my comment of yesterday (after checking out the price here in Singapore myself earlier today!).

    All the prices in the table on my post are in USD so as to make the proce comparison simple. Thus, the USD 10.28 is equivalent to approx. SGD 14.20 (as you pointed out).

    I hope that clarifies and I look forward to your comments again sometime in the future.

    Meanwhile, enjoy the Ben and Jerry's special at Tesco!!

    Kind regards,

    Imran

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  4. Addendum to earlier comment:

    There's now an even better deal at Asda. Normal price of one pint there is 3.00 GBP but for the next two weeks, Ben and Jerry's is on sale for TWO tubs for 3.00 GBP.

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  5. Hi Sibylla,

    Thank you for your comment - hopefully readers in the UK will be able to take advantage of the new offer.

    It does sound pretty amazing!

    Kind regards,

    Imran

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  6. Looks like in addition to the world's most expensive PM, and President, ice cream has joined the list, in this our little red dot.

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  7. Hi Chia,

    Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. Yes, Singapore is expensive in all respects!

    Kind regards,

    Imran

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  8. Be grateful singaporean! Want to compare? Australia AUD 13-15 a pint, and a lot fat aussie doesnt know they had been ripped off. I will not mind to buy in singapore by the way.

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  9. Hello Wahaha,

    Thank you for your comment.

    I guess we could also find ourselves in Japan where Ben and Jerry's ice cream is almost impossible to find!

    Kind regards,

    Imran

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  10. The price in Malaysia is false. Once I check the price of Ben & Jerry's in Cold Storage. It cost about RM45-50 for one pint.

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  11. Hi there,

    Thank you for your updated price of Ben and Jerry's ice cream in Malaysia.

    Please note that my post refers to prices current at the time of publication, i.e. August 2009.

    Kind regards,

    Imran

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  12. Hi,
    Just returned from a trip to california and was surprised to know ice cream there (B and J) are so much cheaper than S'pore! Thats why I googled my way here. A pint of B and J was selling US3.99 or US4.99 depending on flavours, thats less than SGD6.50!

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  13. Hi Jason,

    Glad you found your way to my blog.

    Thanks for updating the price of Ben and Jerry's in California and reminding us how much we pay for our sins in Singapore!

    I hope you will keep visiting my blog from time to time.

    Kind regards,

    Imran

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