KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — The PriceCatcher application developed by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) in 2017 has become a platform for people to shop more wisely in facing the rising prices of goods.
Selvi Shanmugam, Director of the KPDN’s National Price of Goods Division said that with the app, users can plan their daily expenses by comparing the prices of 480 items, including fresh and dry products, packaged/canned/boxed/bottled products, milk and baby products, hygiene products, and beverages, from among nearby premises before buying.
“This app provides users with options to shop at the listed premises based on the items selected. In addition, users can also check and compare the prices in advance and identify the premises that offer the lowest price before heading to the store to make the purchase.
“Users can also estimate the total cost of their purchase using 10 selected items placed in ‘My Basket’. All users can use this app, especially those who want to save money in their spending,” she told Bernama recently.
She said that the PriceCatcher mobile app, which can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and Huawei App Gallery, has many interesting features, including searching by item, by product category, and even by location.
According to Selvi, the PriceCatcher app will display the prices of goods for premises based on the user’s current location, that is within a 10-kilometre radius for Peninsular Malaysia and the Labuan Labuan, and within a 20-kilometre radius for Sabah and Sarawak.
For that, she said KPDN constantly monitors the prices of goods at 1,500 premises, including wet markets, hypermarkets, supermarkets, mini markets, and convenience stores, to be included in the app.
She also said that prices displayed for fresh and dry goods at wet markets, hypermarkets, and supermarkets will be updated daily except on public holidays, while those for packaged goods, milk, and baby products will be updated weekly.
“For hygiene and beverage products, they will be updated monthly. Mini markets and convenience stores are included in weekly and monthly monitoring. The update time for prices of goods at wet markets is before 9:30 am, while for hypermarkets and supermarkets, it is before 12 noon,” she said.
However, Selvi clarified that the prices displayed in PriceCatcher are real-time prices at the premises during monitoring by KPDN’s Price Monitoring Officers (PPH).
“These prices, however, are subject to changes made by the sellers, which are beyond our control,” she said.
PriceCatcher app users can also channel any information regarding trader misconduct, complaints, or the like to KPDN through WhatsApp at 019-279 4317 and 019-848 8000, or by calling the call centre or hotline at 1-800-886-800, or through the e-aduan.kpdn.gov.my portal, email at e-aduan@kpdn.gov.my, and through the Ez ADU KPDN application.
For the record, as of now, the downloaded PriceCatcher application has 315,789 users with a daily visitor rate of 2,000 people.
