Grocery Commissioner urges supermarkets to enforce Everyday Low Pricing through holidays

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Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

The grocery commissioner is challenging all supermarkets to keep a lid on food prices in the run-up to Christmas.

Pierre van Heerden says there is an opportunity for the major players in the $25 billion supermarket sector to bring some Christmas cheer to shoppers.

As the country’s first grocery commissioner, he said small steps were being taken to ensure more competition in the sector.

But he urged supermarkets to help with the cost of living pressures facing consumers by offering some “genuine” savings in the holiday season.

“As we lead into Christmas I want to make sure that as demand increases, that prices don’t increase as well,” van Heerden said.

Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden.
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“My challenge to them is to give genuine meaning and savings because you are getting a lot more footfall through your stores.”

Van Heerden was also reminding supermarkets of their legal responsibility to ensure that when they did advertise specials or promotions, these were accurate and not misleading.

“All retailers have obligations under the Fair Trading Act to ensure that consumers are not misled – all pricing and promotions therefore should be clear, accurate and unambiguous so that consumers can make a well-informed decision,” he said.

Six months into his new role to hold the sector to account, van Heerden said ensuring lower prices on everyday staples remained a priority.

“We know this has been a particularly challenging year for Kiwi consumers with cost-of-living pressures, so I’m asking supermarkets to implement Everyday Low Pricing throughout the holiday season rather than the practice of frequently moving prices up and down – to help ensure Kiwi consumers are getting a genuinely good price when they shop for their groceries.”

In an effort to cut shoppers’ bills, he has been meeting with supermarket executives and communicating directly with them.

“Look, they are saying the right things, there are encouraging signs,” van Heerden said.

“But at the same time, I realise that I’m the regulator and that there will be a number of items that we disagree on as we move forward.

“I will call out anyone in the whole industry where I believe issues are occurring and that consumers aren’t getting the best deal.”

The supermarket sector, which is largely dominated by duopoly Foodstuffs and Countdown, is the most complained-about-sector to the commission.

In October this year, the grocery commissioner announced one of his priorities was clear and accurate pricing.

The commission said it was exploring options to get to the bottom of the pricing issues but was also calling on supermarkets to get the right processes in place now.

Unit Pricing Regulations, which required certain grocery retailers to display the unit price for goods clearly and legibly, came into effect on 31 August, 2023.

While physical stores must comply by 31 August 2024, van Heerden was encouraging major grocery retailers to start taking steps now to consider how this would be implemented, particularly in relation to promotions.