• Woolworths cheapest on total grocery basket in 59 of 61 regions (up from 21 last month)
• Nationally, the price difference between Coles, Woolworths and Independents has narrowed
• ALDI cheapest on basic staple products

By the way this is what they do;(from the web site)

“Price information is obtained from an independent monthly survey of approximately 500 products from 600 supermarket outlets across Australia. The results of each monthly survey will be made available on the GROCERY choice website on the first business day of the following month.”

So lets examine the news from this month.

Woolworths Cheapest in 59 of 61 regions

This is a massive turnaround from last month where they were cheaper in only 21 of the total regions. Does it mean anything though? Coles won the first two surveys and now Woolworths has won this one.

The flaws in the survey are many, and not limited to the points below;

• No individual supermarket is measured
• The data is not dated so it might be 3-4 weeks old even on the day it is released and by the end of the month it could be 8-9 weeks old.
• Promotional price points change week to week and have a massive impact on the basket price
• Like for like product comparison are difficult to make with retailers ranging exclusive products and increasing numbers of Home brands.

Nationally the price difference has narrowed

It is nice of the ACCC web site to tell us this analysis on the front page headline, but there is no link through to the detail or the comparison number, just the Headline.

We may believe them, but;

• We don’t know how much it has narrowed by
• Was it uniform across the states
• How does each state as a total vary

Unless you printed off the results for each region for the past two months you can’t do any analysis. The website just shows the current data. How hard would it be for them to do that, not very.

The government is trying to push Unit Pricing to make the supermarkets more transparent with their pricing, but the governments own website on pricing isn’t even being transparent and doesn’t give access to the history. Bit of a double standard here.

ALDI cheapest on basic staple products

Well blow me down with a feather. Was it an economic guru at the ACCC that came up with this revelation. I thought this was rule number one on the ALDI business model, but no we needed the insight from the ACCC to let us into this secret.

I personally don’t hold out much hope for the future of Grocery Watch in its current format, but have a read of these headlines and decide yourself;

Grocery Choice a big flop – SKY NEWS Oct 1, 2008

Grocery Choice still a farce: Expert – Smartcompany.com.au Sept 3, 2008

Rural consumers not helped by grocery choice site – ABC.net.au Sept 4, 2008

Grocery Choice website does nothing – Channel Seven News Oct 1, 2008

Any one using it, or any other comments?

Tim

“Woolworths, Coles, and Franklins have joined the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) in a push to make nutrition labeling more transparent and meaningful for Australian consumers by adopting the Daily Intake Guide.”

The Daily Intake Guide is a set of front of packaging labels that give a percentage of daily nutrient and energy that a standard serve of that product will provide the average adults intake.

Who decides on the average serve? Is it realistic? Does anyone take any notice?

So why do they all agree? Australian Food News reported yesterday that a survey commissioned by groups including the Cancer Council and Choice in the Sydney and Newcastle areas, showed that only 64% of shoppers surveyed could recognise healthier foods using the Daily Intake Guide. The survey showed that

the “Traffic Light” labeling system was more effective with 81% of shoppers being able to identify healthier foods using these labels.

The Australian Food News article puts the AFGC’s side of the argument through its CEO Kate Carnell, who states;

“The fact that CHOICE’s survey results contradict a large portion of
the data produced by reputable international organisations leads us to
question their approach.”

Well Well, what is the story here. Lots of axes to grind, big corporates and high profile interest groups. I’m none the wiser but I am suspicious.

Any one know what is going on?

Tim