Visitors to the 2012 Olympics may have to start saving now – depending on who wins

PriceRunner (www.pricerunner.co.uk) has compared the cost of visiting the five cities bidding for the 2012 Olympic Games. Prices for 13 brand name consumer products were collected in London, New York, Moscow, Madrid and Paris and the results show that London has the highest cost of living and Moscow the lowest.Smoking, sun worshipping movie buffs will not find London too welcoming. Pricerunner shows that Marlboro Lights, Nivea Sun Tan Lotion and cinema tickets are more expensive in London than in New York, Madrid, Moscow and Paris. However, a bottle of Evian costs half the price in London and Madrid compared to back home in Paris.

Moscow came out as the cheapest city, with Kodak Power Flash, public transport (bus tickets and travel cards), coffee, Big Macs, newspapers, Marlboro Lights and Coca Cola much cheaper than any other city.

Madrid is the cheapest city to catch a film and slap on some sun tan lotion, but the dearest for a hamburger.

New York remains very neutral – but is the most expensive city to travel on public transport.

Paris is the most expensive city for a Big Mac, Coca Cola and ‘snap happy tourists’ beware a Kodak Power Flash will cost a staggering 15,33 Euros.

Expensive London
• Marlboro Lights are 8 times the price in London than Moscow.
• Taking the bus is almost 5 times the price in London than Moscow.
• A Big Mac will cost you over 4 times the price in London than in Moscow.

Cheap London
• Alors! A bottle of Evian in London is less than half the price of Evian in Paris.

The table below shows London’s rank compared to the other 4 cities for consumer products.

About the survey
PriceRunner has studied price developments in the European market since July 2002. These reports act as an extension of the retail/ pricing trend analysis Pricerunner conducts for its clients. The prices for the Olympic price comparison study were collected between 4 and 7 April 2005. The exchange rates are from the European Central Bank, April 6, 2005. (see: www.ecb.int)
Where possible, three prices were collected for each product and the mean average has been used as the country’s price for the product. No less than two prices per product per country have been used, with the exception of those products where prices are standardised, e.g. McDonalds. Prices, in most cases were collected from major supermarket chains to ensure that they are as closely representative of each country’s typical prices as possible. Products included in the comparison of consumer goods are: Coca-Cola, Marlboro Lights, Newspaper, McDonald’s Hamburger, McDonald’s Big Mac, Coffee from a café, a bus ticket, one day subway pass, Nivea Sun lotion, Stella Artois lager, 0,5 L Evian bottle water, Kodak single use camera and cinema tickets at a major cinema.

About PriceRunner

PriceRunner.com, a division of ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCLK), offers product and price comparisons in the categories of personal care, books, computers, films, finance, games and consoles, golf, home appliances, home cinema, household bills, insurance, music, phones, photography, software and sound and vision. Pricerunner.com was the first site in the UK to compare information from both online and high street stores and is the only one that lists non-paying retailers to give users a better overview of the market. By giving the consumer an objective and informative overview, Pricerunner.com makes it easier for the consumer to make a smarter purchase more quickly.

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Note to editors:
A bar chart detailing the price comparison of consumer goods in Olympic candidate cities is available in excel format by contacting:
Gioconda Beekman on tel: +44 (0)20 7033 2660 or email gbeekman@uk.peppercom.com.

Press Contact:
Peppercom Europe
Gioconda Beekman
Tel: +44 (0)20 7033 2660
Email: gbeekman@uk.peppercom.com