Data Preparation

I’ve already got a collection of product IDs stashed in PRODUCT_ID. We need to find the associated product information and prices.

egg_products <- map_df(PRODUCT_ID, product) %>%
   select(product_id, product, sku)

We’ll also need to get the price data.

egg_prices <- map_df(PRODUCT_ID, product_prices) %>%
  mutate(
    date = as.Date(time)
  )

Now we’ll merge the product and price data, then nest the information for each product. This tidy representation of the data will make it easy to generate a plot for each product.

eggs <- egg_prices %>%
  inner_join(egg_products) %>%
  select(sku, product, date, price) %>%
  nest(data = date:price)

Plotting Price History

The plots below show the price history for each of the products that we’re looking at. Points indicated individual price records. The vertical dashed lines indicate the dates for Easter 2020, Christmas 2020 and Easter 2021.

It appears like the price of some products, like strips of 3 marshmallow eggs, have remained the same since Easter 2020.

If you have a larger appetite for marshmallow eggs, then maybe the pack of 24 eggs is your jam. If that’s the case then you’re paying around 33% more this year (R59.99 versus R44.99).

If you have a passion for praline then perhaps a bag of mild chocolate and praline eggs would appeal? It looks like there was a lot of stock after Easter 2020, which got progressively cheaper. This year the price has gone up by 30% (R59.99 versus R45.99).

I was a fan of candy coated eggs in my youth. Although they didn’t come in pastel colours back then.

A pack of 6 eggs costs R42.99 for Easter 2021 versus R27.99 for Easter 2020, an increase of more than 50%!

The Kinder Joy Chocolate Egg is not strictly associated with Easter. It seems like these are perennial favourites with kids (although this is probably due to the toy). These have also got substantially more expensive over the last year, going up from R12.99 for Easter 2020 to R16.99 for Easter 2021, an increase of around 30%.

Easter eggs have always been expensive. But these prices are escalating alarmingly. What are the alternatives?

If it’s about eggs (which I strongly suspect it’s not!), then why not go Old School and hand paint some eggs?

If it’s about chocolate, then just buy regular chocolate. I seriously doubt that the kids will be too disappointed (and, if so, then not for long!). And you’d get much better value than buying an inflated product which is mostly just chocolate-scented air.