Just days after they were taken to court over allegedly misleading discounts, a government-funded report has found Woolworths and Coles are far from the best-value supermarket in Australia.
Consumer advocate group Choice today released the second instalment of its quarterly report on supermarket prices, comparing how much the same basket of 14 common items costs at 104 different stores across the country.
It found Aldi was the cheapest option, with shoppers at the German discount chain paying $50.79 for the basket in June, down from $51.51 in March.
READ MORE: Coles, Woolies made ‘millions’ from ‘illusory’ discounts: ACCC
Choice found the same items cost roughly an extra 30 per cent at the major supermarkets.
“When looking at prices with specials, Woolworths has slipped from second to third place in this wave of research,” CEO Ashley de Silva said.
“The Woolworths basket cost $68.37, compared to $64.93 in March.
“Coles, however, came down in price with our basket of 14 items costing $66.22, compared to $68.52 in March.”
IGA was the most expensive option, with the same basket costing $78.95, a figure Choice said reflected considerable price fluctuations in different parts of the country.
READ MORE: ‘Can you sleep at night?’: Moment customer rips into Woolies CEO
The consumer advocacy group said its report showed the importance of shopping around for groceries.
“Buying items on special can make a difference to overall grocery costs, and reinforces the benefits of shopping around where possible,” de Silva said.
“A discount on tea bags at Coles during our survey period was a major influence on the results of this survey.
“Unfortunately, Choice has previously found supermarket labels are often confusing, making it difficult to tell if there is a true discount on offer or not.
READ MORE: Inflation slows to lowest level in three years
“Our second quarterly supermarket survey highlights the importance of clear, simple labelling, that leaves the customer in no doubt about whether a product is actually on special.”
Those comments come just days after the ACCC took Coles and Woolworths to court, alleging they had duped customers with “illusory” discounts on more than 240 products each over a 20-month period.
The consumer watchdog claims both supermarkets increased prices on the products before quickly lowering them for their “prices dropped” and “down down” promotions at prices lower than during the brief spike but higher than or equal to the earlier costs.
“We allege that in many cases both Woolworths and Coles had already planned to later place the products on a ‘prices dropped’ or ‘down down’ promotion before the price spike, and implemented the temporary price spike for the purpose of establishing a higher ‘was’ price,” Commissioner Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.
Woolworths said it would continue to engage with the ACCC following the legal action while Coles said it intended to defend the proceedings.
links to content on ABC
9News
