Grocery Regulation Implementation

 

Under the Grocery Industry Competition Act 2023, Foodstuffs North Island is one of the regulated grocery retailers (RGRs) in New Zealand, in addition to Foodstuffs South Island and Woolworths.

The Act aims to improve competition and efficiency in the grocery industry for the long-term benefit of NZ consumers. Other changes have been made under the Fair Trading Act and Commerce Act.

Below is a summary of our progress in implementing their key components.

#1. Making prices clear and transparent for customers

It’s important to us that our price labels and promotions are clear and easy to understand, and the price customers see on the shelf, or on our websites, is what they’re charged. 

Here’s what we’ve done or are doing:

 
  • COMPLETED: Unit pricing compliance in stores

    • Unit pricing lets shoppers see how much an item costs either by weight, volume or quantity, so they can more easily compare different products. 

    • Unit pricing was in all our physical stores before it became mandatory in August 2024.  

    • As at May 2025, all products in our stores have unit pricing on them, if required.  

  • ONGOING: Unit pricing online  
    • We updated our shopper websites to have unit pricing (if required) before the required deadline in August 2025.    

    • This includes ensuring suppliers are providing all the info we need to make unit pricing complete and accurate.
     
  • ONGOING: Electronic shelf labels in stores (ESLs)
    • ESLs are digital price tags that can be updated instantly, significantly reducing human error in pricing issues. 

    • As at July 2025, 43 of 47 (91%) of our PAK’nSAVE stores and 101 of 105 (96%) of our New World stores in the North Island have ESLs installed in-store – a financial investment worth over $50m.
  • COMPLETED: Enhanced refund policy
    • In June 2025, we launched our enhanced refund policy, so if a customer is overcharged for a product, we’ll refund the full amount paid for the product and the customer can keep the product. See the policy terms here.
  • COMPLETED: Simplified price tickets 

    • Since 2022, all our Four Square and PAK’nSAVE stores have had just three types of price tickets: 

    o one for the regular price
    o one for short-term deals on that regular price
    o one for everyday products at stable and consistently low prices.

    • Since 2023, our New World stores have had the above same three labels - plus a fourth for Clubcard members.

    • We’ve also put information about our new pricing tickets on our relevant websites and in stores.

     
  • ONGOING: In-store price integrity audits
    • Our stores continue to perform price verification checks across all promotions every Monday, and continued pricing checks throughout the week. 
  • ONGOING: Dedicated price integrity teams
    • We’ve invested in more roles at our Support Centre whose primary function is to help achieve our goal of zero price discrepancies.  

    • We’re developing a network of in-store Price Integrity Managers, who meet fortnightly online with their Support Centre counterparts for training and updates 
     
  • COMPLETED: Simplified New World rewards
    • In 2023, we made our New World Clubcard terms and conditions simpler and created a webpage stating how much customers must spend with us to earn rewards points.

#2. Freeing up land for development by competitors

From August 2021, we removed restrictive covenants on any land we own or lease.   This was before such covenants became unenforceable under the Commerce Amendment Act 2022. 

Our work in this area has included:

  • COMPLETED: No covenants on land we own
    • From 2021 to 2023, we removed restrictive covenants from any blocks of land we owned. 
  • ONGOING: Removing covenants on land we lease
    • We’ve also taken all steps reasonable available to us to remove all other land covenants which require action by third parties to remove those covenants. Any of these covenants that remain are because we’re waiting on relevant third parties to take action (e.g, sign documents).

    • We continue to offer our assistance to these third parties to get those covenants removed. 

    • Note that none of these remaining covenants are still valid or enforceable.
  • COMPLETED: Confirmed no ‘land banking’ 
    • We have genuine and legitimate uses for all our land-site holdings, such as new store or store expansion, carparking and supply chain or distribution.

#3. Supplying wholesale goods to competitor retailers

New Zealand’s regulated grocery retailers are required to offer and supply groceries at wholesale prices to eligible retailers. 

Our progress in this area since 2023 includes:

 
  • COMPLETED: Established wholesale systems
    • Opening up our warehouses and supply chain required significant planning and resources.

    • Investments included setting up a dedicated team and upgrading our IT systems.
  • ONGOING: Regular wholesale supply to other retailers
    • We started offering wholesale supply to qualifying buyers in March 2023, six months before it became mandatory.

    • By May 2025, we had 83 signed-up customers with 41 actively ordering and supplying consumers in the North Island via independent retail stores and websites.   

    • We’re continuing to actively promote our wholesale offering to other retailers.
  • ONGOING: Confirming wholesale supply for suppliers
    • By May 2025, more than 340 of our 582 active suppliers who supply goods through our distribution centre network had agreed to let their goods be offered for sale via our wholesale service.

    • We continue to encourage our suppliers to let us sell their goods wholesale.

    • We also continue to work with suppliers to negotiate additional discounts for wholesale customers to deliver competitive pricing.

#4. Improving relationships with our supplier partners

The existing Grocery Supply Code gives clarity to the rules of engagement with our supplier-partners, providing a set of rules about our agreements and conduct that took effect in September 2023.

Key changes we’ve made since then are set out below.

In addition, we are actively participating in the Commerce Commission’s review of the existing Grocery Supply Code.

  • ONGOING: Training for relevant team members
    • All members of our Merchandise team have received training in upholding the Code, as well as other team members.

    • New relevant team members receive this as part of onboarding. 

    • All owner-operators and the relevant members of their store teams are given the opportunity to attend training in upholding the Code, delivered by a third-party learning and development specialist.

    • We have begun the rollout of e-learning modules for relevant Support Centre and store team members.

    • Monthly Code Q&A calls, run by relevant Merchandise senior leaders and Legal team members, are held for both owner-operators and our Merchandise team.
  • COMPLETED: Simplified contracts for suppliers  
    • We worked with the Commerce Commission to update our Grocery Supplier Contract (GSC).

    • All existing suppliers were offered an updated GSC and any new suppliers are offered this GSC. Over 1,000 suppliers have signed their GSC.