A 1.2 kg box of Finish dishwasher salt costs €1.74 at dm in Germany. The same box costs €3.85 at K-Supermarket in Finland — same week, same euros, 121% more expensive.
What the data shows
Sivix collected 32,185 price records across 12 markets between June 2025 and March 2026, covering laundry and dishwashing detergent. The gaps are not subtle.
The median laundry detergent price in Slovenia is €14.99. In Germany it is €5.99. That is 2.5 times more expensive — same euros, same kind of product, different country.
The cross-border gap is striking. What is less obvious is that the same thing happens within a single country. Inside Slovenia, the laundry category shows a full spread just from retailer to retailer: dm drogerie markt online averages €8.62, SPAR runs €12.89–€17.59 depending on branch, Mercator online averages €16.96, and Tuš online tops out at €19.49. Four retailers, one country, one category — a 2.3× gap from cheapest to most expensive.
Median laundry price by retailer — Slovenia
Source: Sivix, Jun 2025 – Mar 2026
For something specific: Denkmit liquid detergent (40 wash loads) costs €2.15 at dm Germany and €3.95 at dm Slovenia. Same product, same chain, 84% more. Cross a border — even into a dm store — and the price changes substantially.
Same product, different market
Source: Sivix, Jun 2025 – Mar 2026
Why this happens
Detergent is a category where pack sizes and promotions create pricing fog. A bigger box looks like value. A discount sticker makes any price feel like a deal. Most shoppers never calculate the per-unit cost — and retailers price accordingly.
Cross-border, the gaps are structural. Estonia has fewer competing retailers than Finland, smaller economies of scale, and higher logistics costs. K-Supermarket competes in a dense Finnish market where price pressure is constant. Selver operates in a much smaller one where it is not. The product is identical. The market conditions are not.
What it means for you
Always check the per-unit price before buying detergent — the pack size is designed to make this harder than it should be. If dm operates where you are (Germany, Slovenia, and across Central Europe), it is consistently the cheapest option in the laundry aisle. And if you are ever crossing into Germany near a supermarket, detergent is one of the best things to stock up on — at up to 2.5× cheaper than what you will find at home, the savings are real enough to fill a bag.
Next month: which food categories swing the most by season — and whether the pattern is as predictable as you might think.
Data source: Based on 32,185 price submissions collected by Sivix users across 12 markets (FI, SI, DE, EE, AE, SE, DK, LT, LV, NO, ES, SG). Data reflects real shelf prices as reported at the time of purchase, June 2025 – March 2026.