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Criminal Charges On The Way For Major Supermarkets

The Commerce Commission today announced it will be filing criminal charges against Woolworths NZ, Pak’nSave Silverdale, and Pak’nSave Mill Street for what the Commission alleges was inaccurate pricing and misleading specials that may have breached the Fair Trading Act.

“Shoppers should have confidence that the price they see will be the price they pay, and specials really are special,” Commerce Commission Deputy Chair Anne Callinan says.

“Supermarkets have long been on notice about the importance of accurate and clear pricing and specials, and we’re not satisfied with the continuing issues we’re seeing across the industry.

“Pricing accuracy is a consumer right and an expectation of a competitive market. The major supermarkets are large, well-resourced businesses that should invest the time and effort to get pricing and promotions right. 

“Since the Commission’s 2022 market study into groceries we’ve had a sustained focus on pricing integrity in the sector. Our Chair John Small and Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden, have made our expectations clear to the supermarkets that they have to improve things.

“The charges we’re filing against major supermarket brands are to remind all supermarket operators that we expect them to fix ongoing pricing accuracy issues and implement better processes to prevent issues like these in the future,” Ms Callinan says.

The charges will be filed separately against Woolworths NZ, Pak’nSave Silverdale, and Pak’nSave Mill Street.

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The Commission has other ongoing investigations into supermarket operators.

Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden says the work the Commission is doing to put in place a mandatory disclosure standard under the Grocery Industry Competition Act will make it easier to identify trends and issues going forward, so they can be remedied.

“The standard will require the major supermarkets to regularly disclose information about customer complaints, including around pricing and promotional issues” Mr van Heerden says.

“The major supermarkets don’t have consistent processes for recording customer complaints – the lack of clarity and reporting means supermarkets can’t identify potential compliance issues within their businesses. This impacts consumers as their complaints may not be being dealt with effectively, which we would expect in a competitive market,” Mr van Heerden says.

The Commission is working with the major supermarkets on what information will be included in the standard and expects to have a draft published in the new year. 

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