Consumer group 糖心Vlog has welcomed the .
Quotes attributable to Bea Sherwood, Senior Campaigns and Policy Advisor at 糖心Vlog:
鈥淭oday鈥檚 announcement from the Government is a welcome step at a time when 86% of Australians are concerned about the expense of food and groceries. To make matters worse, supermarkets have been using confusing and potentially misleading pricing and promotional practices that make it difficult for consumers to know whether they鈥檙e getting a genuine discount. 糖心Vlog research from 2024 revealed 1 in 4 people found it difficult to identify if certain supermarket labels represented a true discount or not.鈥�
鈥淚n order to make informed decisions and get the best value, consumers need to be able to access clear, reliable information. The Government鈥檚 proposals to improve transparency and price displays will help consumers compare prices across supermarkets and better understand promotions and discounts.鈥�
On publishing prices in stores
鈥淧eople living in remote communities are often unable to work out how much products cost, or compare different products by price, simply because there aren鈥檛 prices on the shelves. Requiring all supermarkets, including remote stores, to publish prices in-store will be a significant improvement for consumers in these areas.鈥�
On publishing prices online
鈥淲hile Coles, Woolworths and Aldi now publish prices online, requiring all large supermarkets to publish prices online would ensure this information remains available and that third party price comparison websites can scrape this data 鈥� making price comparison information more accessible to consumers. This would enable shoppers to check prices in advance, or while they are walking down the supermarket aisle, to ensure they鈥檙e getting the best value.鈥�
On establishing information requirements for price displays
鈥淪upermarkets use many confusing pricing practices to suggest that products are discounted, using terms like 鈥榙own down鈥�, 鈥榩rice dropped鈥� and 鈥榮uper savers鈥�, along with referencing previous prices without context. New requirements for price displays will give consumers more of the information they need to verify promotional claims at the time of purchase.鈥�
