Frequently Asked Questions
Questions
Answers
About GROCERYchoice
GROCERYchoice provides practical grocery price information to assist consumers in locating the cheapest grocery prices and supermarket chain in their area without having to compare hundreds of prices themselves.
Each month, the price of typical grocery baskets, made up of approximately 500 products, are published for a range of supermarket retailers located in 61 different metropolitan, regional and rural regions across Australia.
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Prices, Products and Baskets
GROCERYchoice basket prices reflect the price of typical grocery baskets from a range of supermarket retailers located across Australia.
The grocery basket prices for each supermarket retailer represent the average basket price for that retailer within a specified region. They do not represent the price for a specific individual supermarket outlet.
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Yes. Prices for each of the 500 products are collected monthly via an independent survey of approximately 600 supermarkets across Australia. The prices collected reflect those at which the products can be purchased at the time of the survey, and includes special prices. However, the prices collected will not reflect those that have been reduced as a result of product damage or products that are nearing their ‘best before’ or ‘use buy’ date.
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GROCERYchoice is designed to provide price comparisons between supermarket chains within regions and across Australia. Over time it will provide a picture of which supermarket chain offers the cheapest prices in a particular region.
However, it is not appropriate to compare basket prices from one period to the next in order to calculate price increases or decreases. This is in part due to the rotation of products between monthly surveys.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), provides a general measure of changes in price of consumer goods and services purchased by Australian households. It is specifically designed as a general measure of price inflation for the household sector as a whole.
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The GROCERYchoice baskets are made up approximately 500 grocery products. These products include branded and private label (e.g. ‘Woolworths Select’ and ‘You’ll Love Coles’) grocery products that make up a large proportion of the average Australian’s household grocery expenditure.
Each of the 500 products comes from one of the following categories:
- Breads & Cereals
- Dairy
- Fruit & Vegetables
- Household & Personal Care
- Meat & Seafood
- General Groceries
- Drinks & Other Snacks
To prevent the manipulation of the price survey and the published results the individual product list for each supermarket retailer will remain confidential to the ACCC.
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It became apparent during the ACCC’s Grocery Inquiry that with the thousands of products available in supermarkets, it is hard for consumers to compare them all, to decide which supermarket chain is cheapest overall.
While supermarket chains already advertise their “specials” prices extensively. GROCERYchoice aims to tell consumers what supermarkets do not - which supermarkets are the cheapest chains across-the-board.
Therefore individual product prices have not been provided on the GROCERYchoice website. GROCERYchoice aims to give consumers more informed choice by providing them with the information about which supermarket chain in their region is cheapest overall.
The ACCC does not disclose the precise product list to ensure the integrity of the survey and prevent potential price manipulation of the survey by the supermarkets.
Supermarket chains do not know in advance which supermarkets will be surveyed, nor exactly when. Nor will they know which products are being surveyed. Additionally, the sample of products and supermarkets will be rotated on a regular basis.
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The GROCERYchoice grocery baskets reflect groupings of commonly purchased grocery items. There are eight individual grocery baskets:
- Breads & Cereals
- Dairy
- Fruit & Vegetables
- Household & Personal Care
- Meat & Seafood
- General Groceries
- Drinks & Other Snacks
- Basic Staples
The ‘Basic Staples’ basket includes a range of staple products from the other seven baskets. A total of all baskets (excluding the Basic Staples basket) is also calculated.
At ALDI supermarkets, owing to their smaller product range, not all of the 500 products included in the survey can be found. To address this, a smaller number of staple products have been selected and are presented as the ‘Basic Staples’ basket. The Basic Staples basket is the only basket that lists an ALDI supermarkets price.
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The Basic Staples basket includes a range of staple products from the other seven grocery baskets, including milk, bread fruit and vegetables and meat. As a result of their smaller product range, this is the only basket that lists an ALDI supermarkets price.
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GROCERYchoice provides information about the price of typical grocery baskets from a range of supermarket retailers across Australia. Individual product prices are not be presented.
The ACCC does not disclose the precise product list to ensure the integrity of the survey and prevent potential price manipulation of the survey by the supermarkets. The sample of products and supermarkets are also rotated on a regular basis.
A full list of the GROCERYchoice baskets is available on the website at the ‘Basket Categories’ information page. Consumers can assess from this list the types of products included in the survey. For example the "Dairy" basket includes the following types of products: milk, cheese, ice cream, dairy snacks and yoghurt.
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Grocery basket prices are calculated using the prices of approximately 500 grocery products. Each of the 500 products are allocated to one of seven typical grocery baskets.
Prices for each of the 500 products are collected monthly via an independent survey of approximately 600 supermarkets across Australia. Once collected, a number of quality assurance techniques are applied to the prices data to ensure its accuracy.
Each of the product prices in the basket are multiplied by an appropriate expenditure weight, reflecting the importance, in terms of average weekly expenditure, of that product compared to all products within the basket. These data are then aggregated by supermarket retailer and region to create the various basket prices.
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The GROCERYchoice survey utilises data from the Australian Bureau of Statistic’s Household Expenditure Survey (HES) to determine the typical weekly purchasing activity of the average Australian household.
A household’s weekly expenditure on groceries may be somewhat different to that of the average Australian household. However, the published results will still be useful as they provide an indication of the relative difference in grocery prices between supermarket chains.
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Supermarkets
The supermarkets included within the GROCERYchoice price survey include the major supermarket chains of Coles/BI-LO and Woolworth/Safeway as well as other supermarket retailers such as Franklins, ALDI, IGA, Festival IGA, Foodlands IGA, FoodWorks and Supabarn.The survey does not collect information from ‘corner store’ or ‘express’ supermarkets, or speciality grocers.
The towns and suburbs on the GROCERYchoice maps do not necessarily reflect where the survey is undertaken. They have been included as a guide to the survey’s 61 regions, many have been selected to illustrate where the region boundaries are located.
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The grocery basket prices for each supermarket retailer represent the average basket price for that retailer within a specified region. They do not represent the price for a specific individual supermarket outlet. Basket prices for individual supermarket outlets will not be published.
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To ensure that the full range of 500 products can be priced at each of the supermarkets included in the survey, the selection is generally restricted to those stores with a floor area of greater than 1000 square metres.
In some regions, specific retailers may not have supermarkets greater than 1000 square metres participating in the survey. This is particularly the case for the various independent supermarkets. For this reason basket price information for all supermarket chains might not exist in all regions.
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ALDI supermarkets (where present in a region) are included in the GROCERYchoice survey. At ALDI supermarkets, owing to their smaller product range, not all of the 500 products included in the survey can be found. To address this, a smaller number of staple products have been selected and are presented as the ‘Basic Staples’ basket. The Basic Staples basket is the only basket that lists an ALDI supermarkets price.
Product testing results were used extensively to determine the products to be included in the ‘Basic Staples’ basket. ALDI products were compared against both the branded and private label products available from other supermarket retailers to ensure that all products included in these baskets were of equal quality.
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While ALDI does operate a national pricing policy, the policy excludes fresh fruit, vegetables and regional bakery lines. Each individual ALDI store may have different prices on these items. Consequently the Basic Staples basket at ALDI may differ in price across the survey regions.
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The GROCERYchoice survey collects the prices of 500 products. While ALDI do stock both meat and fruit and vegetable products, overall their product range is smaller than the other supermarket chains. As a result, prices for the specific meat and seafood and fruit and vegetable baskets are not able to be calculated.
Due to their smaller product range, the ‘Basic Staples’ basket is the only basket that lists an ALDI supermarkets price. The Basic Staples basket includes a range of staple products from the other seven grocery baskets, including the meat and seafood and fruit and vegetable baskets.
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Regions
To ensure GROCERYchoice is relevant to all Australians, the ACCC collects grocery price information in 61 regions across Australia including metropolitan, regional and rural areas. The regions have been selected to ensure the survey is conducted across geographically identifiable areas, which are relevant to the lifestyles and shopping practices of Australian consumers.
In order to obtain prices for the full list of products in the survey the selection of supermarkets in some areas of Australia is necessarily focussed on the major regional centres.
The towns and suburbs on the GROCERYchoice maps do not necessarily reflect where the survey is undertaken. They have been included as a guide to the survey’s 61 regions, many have been selected to illustrate where the region boundaries are located.
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Navigating the Website
The GROCERYchoice website has three search functions available from the GROCERYchoice home page to assist you in locating your region; a suburb/town search, a post code search and a search using the map of Australia.
Post Code and Suburb/Town Search
Using the GROCERYchoice search facility enter either your postcode or the suburb/town name where you live and/or shop. You will then be directed to a table showing the price of typical grocery baskets for a range of supermarket retailers in your region.
For some searches more than one region may be returned. This can occur because some postcodes and suburbs/towns are located across the boundary of two or more regions or a suburb/town with the same name exists in more than one state/territory. If this occurs please select the most appropriate region to continue your search.
The ACCC has conducted comprehensive quality testing of the survey post code and suburb/town data. Should you become aware of any inconsistencies with your post code or suburb please contact the ACCC by email using the GROCERYchoice
inquiries and feedback form.
Map of Australia
On the GROCERYchoice homepage use the map of Australia to locate the survey region where you live and/or shop. After selecting your state or territory from the map of Australia you will be taken to a second, more detailed, map of your State or Territory. Continue to select your location as required on the various maps until you reach the table showing the price of typical grocery baskets for a range of supermarket retailers in your region.
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The results of each monthly survey will be made available on the GROCERYchoice website on the first business day of the following month.
The GROCERYchoice subscription service will send subscribers an email informing them when new monthly grocery basket prices are available on the website.
To subscribe to GROCERYchoice please complete the GROCERYchoice
registration form.
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To unsubscribe from GROCERYchoice please email
grocerychoice@accc.gov.au with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.
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The GROCERYchoice site map is incorporated within the pages of the website. On the home page the site map is represented by the state and territory links underneath the map of Australia. On each of the additional map pages, the site map is located on the left hand side of the page and contains the same links as the clickable region map.
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Contact us
The ACCC welcomes your feedback about GROCERYchoice. Please contact GROCERYchoice with your feedback by email using the
inquiries and feedback form.
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The ACCC welcomes any questions you may have about GROCERYchoice. Please contact GROCERYchoice with your inquiry by email using the
inquiries and feedback form.
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Other
In the recent Grocery Inquiry, the ACCC investigated the level of competition in grocery retailing in Australia. Further information and the findings of this inquiry can be found on the ‘News and Info’ page of the GROCERYchoice website.
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