Submission to the ACCC Supermarkets Inquiry 2024-25

April 2024

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Bea Sherwood

CHOICE has made a submission to the ACCC Supermarkets inquiry 2024-25 and welcomes this inquiry as an opportunity to investigate the pricing and promotional practices of the major supermarkets.

Consumers are concerned about the cost of food and groceries and are questioning whether recent price increases are justified. High levels of concentration in Australia's supermarket sector may have allowed supermarkets to increase prices beyond what would be fair in a more competitive market. Supermarkets also use a number of promotional tactics designed to look like specials that may offer little to no discount. Consumers look for products that are the best value for money but it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to decipher the promotional tags being used by the supermarkets.

New research from CHOICE reveals that people are confused by many of the promotional labels and terms used at the major supermarkets. For all of the labels included in our research, on average 1 in 4 people did not know whether the label represented a discount on the usual price. In addition, large numbers of consumers from our research incorrectly interpreted labels to mean products were discounted and many said they were not able to quickly and easily determine if a product was discounted or not. CHOICE's submission makes a number of recommendations around:

increasing transparency in historical supermarket pricing
banning certain promotional tactics
access to food for remote communities
investigating and building a stronger evidence base about a number of emerging issues such as the growth of online shopping, the barriers to other companies entering the grocery market and the role of homebrand products
economy wide law reforms to protect consumers, such as the introduction of a ban on unfair trading and changes to the Privacy Act.

Download the statement (PDF)