(Yicai) March 27 -- Wahaha Group has not increased its prices, a staff of the Chinese bottled water giant said to deny it hiked prices of some of its products.

Wahaha employees explained to Yicai yesterday that the stores on e-commerce platforms selling the company's products at higher prices are not official or authorized Wahaha stores.

Consumers rushed to buy Wahaha's bottled water and other drinks on e-commerce sites earlier this month as a form of tribute to the company's founder Zong Qinghou, who died from an undisclosed disease on Feb. 26. As a result, many products were sold out and prices increased.

Also staffers at offline supermarkets confirmed with Yicai that Wahaha has not adjusted its prices. Some of the stores have a shortage of Wahaha products.

A beverage retailer on Alibaba Group Holding's e-commerce site Taobao was selling a five-bottle pack of 14.8 liters of Wahaha mineral water at CNY95 (USD13) in mid-February, but the price increased to CNY120 (USD17) as of yesterday, Yicai found. The online store is not a Wahaha-authorized reseller.

"Yes, there has been a price increase in Wahaha products," the owner of the above retail store told Yicai. It is still unclear whether and when prices will be lowered again, the merchant noted.

A consumer said they purchased a box with 24 220-milliliter bottles of Wahaha's Vitamin AD Calcium Milk on delivery platform Meituan for CNY31.99 in January. But the same product is now priced at CNY46.99, the person added, noting its price has also increased on e-commerce site Pinduoduo.

Editor: Futura Costaglione