Consumer group CHOICE has today released its first quarterly, government-funded report on supermarket prices across Australia.
As part of the research, CHOICE sent mystery shoppers to 81 regional and metropolitan supermarkets across the country, including Aldi, Woolworths, and Coles, to record prices for 14 common grocery items.
The research revealed that Aldi's basket was about 25% cheaper than baskets at Coles or Woolworths.
"Aldi was the clear leader on value for money in our first supermarket basket survey for 2024, with our basket of 14 products costing just $51.51 - coming in at about 25% cheaper than Coles or Woolworths," says CHOICE CEO, Ashley de Silva.
"Grocery prices at Coles and Woolworths are very closely matched, with only 75 cents separating the prices of our basket of 14 items without specials. Coles was the most expensive at $69.33, while the basket at Woolworths came in at $68.58," says de Silva.
CHOICE's research also found where people live can make a difference when it comes to the cost of groceries.
"When we looked at the average cost of our supermarket baskets in each state we found that if you live in Tasmania or the Northern Territory, you're paying significantly more each week for your groceries. However, this is mainly due to the fact that these areas have more limited options for shopping than the rest of the country, with no Aldi in Tassie or the NT," says de Silva.
"Outside of the Northern Territory and Tasmania, Western Australians are paying the most on average for their groceries - around a dollar more for this basket of items than people in other parts of the country pay," says de Silva.
CHOICE's supermarket price research will continue every quarter for the next three years, helping people to stay on top of where they can find the cheapest groceries.
"We look forward to providing consumers across the country with clear, reliable information about supermarket prices. This kind of transparency is more important than ever as the cost of living crisis continues, and prices of basic grocery items climb," says de Silva.
Images, videos and infographics are available here.
Supermarkets and locations
We sent undercover shoppers into 81 supermarkets – 27 Woolworths, 27 Coles, 23 Aldi and 4 IGA stores – in 27 locations across Australia in March 2024. Mystery shops were completed at IGA where there were no Aldi supermarkets to compete with Coles and Woolworths. We recorded regular prices as well as special prices at these supermarkets. Supermarket locations were chosen to give good coverage of socio-economic status based on ABS Indexes and geographic spread across the country. We surveyed supermarkets in clusters so that each store has local competition.
Grocery basket items
Our full grocery basket consisted of 14 items, 12 of which were packaged products, either national brand or comparable supermarket brand/budget brand options (including beef mince and milk), with two fresh fruit and vegetable items (apples and carrots) completing the list:
- Apples
- Carrots
- Weet-Bix
- Sliced white bread
- Flour
- Penne
- White sugar
- Tea bags
- Tinned diced tomatoes
- Block of tasty cheese
- Full-cream dairy milk
- Frozen peas
- Beef mince
- Butter
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
