Survey Methodology

GROCERYchoice provides information about the price of typical grocery baskets from a range of supermarket retailers. The basket prices are calculated using the prices of approximately 500 grocery products that make up a large proportion of the average Australian’s household grocery expenditure. The prices represent the average weekly basket price for a retailer within a specified region, and not the price for a specific individual supermarket outlet.

To calculate the basket prices each of the 500 products are allocated to one of seven typical grocery baskets. These include: Meat & Seafood, Fruit & Vegetables, Dairy, Breads & Cereals, Drinks & Other Snacks, General Groceries and Household & Personal Care. There is also a "Basic Staples" basket which is made up of a range of staple products from the other seven 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 then 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.