CHOICE has released the results of the fourth wave of its quarterly, government-funded report on supermarket prices across Australia.
In December, the consumer group visited 104 supermarkets across the country, including Aldi, Woolworths, Coles and IGA, and recorded the prices of 14 common grocery items.
Based on prices both with and without specials, the cost of baskets at Aldi and Coles have dropped since the first quarterly survey, while the Woolworths basket price has increased.
"From March 2024 to December 2024, Aldi's basket price with specials remained almost unchanged, decreasing by just 0.3%. In March, Aldi's basket was $51.51, compared to $51.36 in December," says CHOICE CEO, Ashley de Silva.
"The Coles basket with specials cost on average $68.52 in March, compared to $66.84 in December - a 2.5% decrease. The Woolworths basket with specials increased by 3.7%, with the price going from $64.93 in the first quarter to $67.34 in the latest quarter," says de Silva.
IGA stores weren't included in our March survey, but CHOICE found the price of their basket has dropped since the June survey, costing $78.95 in June compared to $74.90 in December.
"When excluding specials, the Aldi basket once again decreased in price by 0.3%, from $51.51 in March 2024 to $51.36 in December 2024. At Coles, the basket without specials decreased from $69.33 in March to $67.84 in December. At Woolworths, the price without specials increased slightly from $68.58 in March to $69.63 in December," says de Silva.
"The first quarter of our grocery basket survey saw Coles and Woolworths prices were closely matched, with only 75 cents between them for a basket without specials. This has increased slightly to a $1.79 difference between the baskets without specials in December. While the difference doesn't seem that much, over a year of weekly shops, the difference would add up to more than $90," says de Silva.
"Over the past year, our supermarket basket surveys have shown there are simple ways to save money on your weekly shop. Using unit pricing to compare prices and find the cheapest option, shopping across multiple stores to take advantage of specials, and trying house brand products can all help you reduce grocery bills in the long run," says de Silva.
Editor's notes:
Supermarkets and locations
We sent undercover shoppers into 104 supermarkets – 27 Woolworths, 27 Coles, 23 Aldi and 27 IGA stores – in 27 locations across Australia in December 2024. 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. In December we also included two spotlight items, cucumbers and bananas. Our basket included a mix of both house-brand and national-brand items. This was true for Aldi as well as Coles, Woolworths and IGA. To ensure a fair comparison, like-for-like items were chosen based on factors such as weight, ingredient lists, country of origin, and packaging similarities.
For more details on our methodology, see how we survey supermarket grocery prices.
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