06 April 2023

You may have seen media coverage relating to Consumer NZ’s claims of ‘dodgy’ supermarket specials.  We’re committed to doing business in an open and transparent way and we always take claims like these very seriously.

Foodstuffs stores collectively serve over 3.5 million customer visits each week, in our stores and online. If there’s a mistake, we work quickly to put it right and we’ll always refund customers where they’ve been incorrectly charged.

We’ve been asking Consumer NZ for the details of the issues they say they’ve found in our stores for several months now, and to date they’ve provided 7 examples, which we promptly looked into.

Over the same period Consumer NZ say they’ve been collecting examples, our stores will have completed 100 million customer transactions.

The majority of the 7 examples Consumer NZ have provided appear to be instances of differences between brand-wide prices and store specific prices. However, the customer received the best price at the point of sale.

We fully support the recommendations made by the Commerce Commission and are committed to being held accountable for implementing the final suite of changes that were announced last year. We’ve already made significant progress in simplifying our pricing and promotions across our brands, making them easier to understand. We’ve also been publicly reporting on this and have provided these updates to Consumer NZ.

We regularly report on the progress we’re making on implementing the Commerce Commission’s recommendations on this website https://www.foodstuffs.co.nz/Market-study-reporting-dashboard and we’re working closely with officials at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment as policy decisions are being made on the Government’s requirements for grocery retailers.

We all want customers to have clear information to help make shopping decisions easier. We know New Zealanders are doing it tough right now. We’re proud to have held prices below food price inflation for 10 months in a row, which we’re doing through buying well and finding efficiencies in our business.

Click here to go to the Foodstuffs North Island Market Study Reporting Dashboard for the latest.