Slovakia's state food price comparison tool faces usage limits

A state-funded food price comparison platform in Slovakia, designed to help citizens save money by identifying the cheapest retailers for essential goods, is facing scrutiny regarding its effectiveness and usage.

Developed at a cost of approximately 178,000 euros, the tool allows consumers to create virtual shopping lists and automatically compares prices across selected retail chains. While the Ministry of Finance suggests the platform may be more popular than raw data indicates, official statistics show monthly visits at around 78,000, averaging roughly 2,600 daily users. This is significantly lower than the daily traffic to the Ministry's own Open Data portal, which receives over 19,000 visits per day. Officials have noted that actual engagement figures might be underreported due to users blocking cookies.