Gemma Rasmussen: Consumer NZ on supermarket pricing discrepancies

The Commerce Commission says shoppers are likely to be losing millions of dollars a year due to supermarket pricing errors.

Grocery commissioner Pierre van Heerden has called them out for times when the price on the label doesn't match what you end up paying at the counter. 

He believes when that happens they need to give you the product for free.

Head of research and advocacy at Consumer NZ, Gemma Rasmussen, told Heather du Plessis-Allan it should be the role of the commission to be looking into the pricing discrepancies.

She says 65% of shoppers are noticing pricing inaccuracies when they go to the supermarket and about 12% are spotting them frequently.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
He ever do for c Ellen, You're welcome to tell
me what you think. Ninety two ninety two is the
text number. Obviously the standard text fees apply now supermarkets.
Supermarkets are in trouble today with the Grocery Commission, aren't
they for the dodging pricing. So he's taken a crack
at them for those times where you go up to
you look at the thing on the shelf and it
says five ninety nine, and you go to pay for

(00:22):
it and it's eight ninety nine. And he reckons that
when that happens, they actually need to give you the
product for free. And the problem he reckons is also
so big that Kiwis could be losing tens of million
dollars a year on this now. Jim Rasmussen is the
head of Research and Advocacy at Consumer New Zealand. Hey,
Gemma cured to headther you into this.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
And what the commissioners saying. I think that it is
a step in the right direction and that we know
the supermarkets have been guilty of pricing discrepancies and that's
something that is costing New Zealanders tens of millions of
dollars a year. However, I think that what he's calling
for isn't going far enough.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
No, because it feels like it's now my job to
go through the receipt but I don't have time for
Why can't they fix it at their end?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Well, that's a great question. So you look at the
Commission and there is a growth routing, there's a market
commissioner himself, and then we also have these major supermarkets
who have historically made pretty good profits. We think that
it should be the role of the Commission to actually
be looking into the supermarket pricing discrepancies and really monitoring

(01:35):
it a little bit more carefully. But on top of that,
we also think it's a really fundamental part of running
a business. It's getting your pricing accurate and correct. And
the fact that after a market study the supermarkets can't
even do this is not really acceptable.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
They say it's just mistakes, right, it's not deliberate on
their part. They say it's mistakes. He agrees it's mistakes.
So if it's just mistakes, is there any way really
to actually get them to fix this problem or is
this just one of the things that happens when you
go to the supermarket.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, I think that's a question about what is a
reasonable level of mistake. And yes, they are dealing with
hundreds of thousands of products and they all need to
be priced. But from our research, we've found sixty five
percent of shoppers are noticing pricing inaccuracies when they go
to the supermarket, and about twelve percent are spotting them frequently.
The Commissioner himself has said that tens of millions of

(02:29):
dollars are being lost every year, and last year we
collected about six hundred examples from the public which highlighted
the issue which is now being investigated by the Commerce
Commission and could be the grounds for meaningful enforcement action.
And when I say that, I mean fines. So I
think the question is is there a problem here or

(02:49):
is there not? And if there is a problem, which
Consumer n Z thinks there is, is simply reporting on it.
And when we say reporting that, you going to the
supermarket telling the supermarket there's a problem, the supermarket telling
the commissioner there's a problem. Is that enough?

Speaker 1 (03:06):
So what should a fine be if I end up
paying I don't know, let's say eight ninety nine four
something I thought was five ninety nine. What should they
be paying for that?

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Well, do you mean you the shopper.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
I'm the shopper. I mean, I'd much rather be the
supermarket owner at this stage, but I am, unfortunately the shopper.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
So we think for the shopper, we think that they
should be able to get a full refund and be
able to keep the product. And that's not wallworth HEAs
in line, whereas food stuff says, we'll just give you
the difference. So the Commissioner has asked for a more
generous refund, which we think is great. But you know,
on the supermarket side, in the past there has been

(03:45):
cases where the supermarkets have been caught doing this a
little bit more prolifically. So there was an example of
Pack and Save Mangaday, which was prosecuted by the Commerce
Commission and was fined seventy eight thousand dollars. This didn't
really have the impact in terms of stopping supermarkets across
the board from cleaning up their pricing discrepancies. So we

(04:06):
think that really there does need to be quite a
strong signal for them to really do anything about this.
And this is about investment and innovation from the supermarkets
actually putting in the resourcing to ensure that they're pricing
is correct.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Okay, so we don't often give the supermarkets a shout out,
but shout out to all works for actually doing this
already and giving you your money back and the product yet.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Absolutely yeah, and I think that also when you look
at the letters that the Commissioner has sent to the supermarkets,
will Work seems to be acknowledging there's a problem, that
they are working to take positive steps. It may be
taking a little bit long, but they do seem to
be a little bit more on board with this process.
So absolutely shout out to them for that.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Jemma Listen, thank you very much for talking us through.
It's Jim Harassments are the head of research and advocacy
at Consumer New Zealand. For more from Heather duplessy Ellen Drive,
listen live to news talks. They'd be from four pm weekdays,
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