New CHOICE survey reveals change in grocery prices at Coles, Woolworths and Aldi

IGA shoppers are forking out the most for their groceries, while Woolies buyers have seen the largest increase in prices, new government-funded research suggests.

The latest quarterly CHOICE survey, which tracks the price of 14 common grocery items across major supermarket chains, found the cost of baskets at Aldi and Coles had fallen last year from March to December, while Woolworths basket price had increased.

“Aldi’s basket price with specials remained almost unchanged, decreasing by just 0.3 per cent,” CHOICE chief executive Ashley de Silva said.

“In March, Aldi’s basket was $51.51, compared to $51.36 in December.

“The Coles basket with specials cost on average $68.52 in March, compared to $66.84 in December, a 2.5 per cent decrease.

“The Woolworths basket with specials increased by 3.7 per cent, with the price going from $64.93 in the first quarter to $67.34 in the latest quarter.”

The same trends were also recorded in baskets without specials, the survey revealed.

“When excluding specials, the Aldi basket once again decreased in price by 0.3 per cent, from $51.51 in March 2024 to $51.36 in December 2024,” Mr de Silva said.

“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.”

The survey also tracks IGA, with data collected from June to December.

Over the six months, CHOICE found the price of IGA baskets had dropped from $78.95 to $74.90.

To gather the data, the consumer advocacy group sent undercover shoppers into 104 supermarkets, including 27 Woolworths stores, 27 Coles stores, 23 Aldi stores and 27 IGA stores across 27 locations.

The basket is made up of 12 packaged products, including beef mince and milk, with two fresh fruit and vegetable items, including apples and carrots.

“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,” Mr de Silva said.

“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.”

The federal government provides funding to CHOICE to elevate price transparency in the supermarket sector.

The large retailers have come under close scrutiny in recent months around concerns Australia’s comparatively concentrated supermarket landscape could be inflating prices for consumers.

Both Coles and Woolworths delivered record revenues and profits in the past few years, even as consumer spending power declined amid rising inflation and interest rate pressures.

Woolworths controls about 38 per cent of market share, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has found, while Coles controls about 29 per cent, Aldi controls about 9 per cent, Metcash 7 per cent and other retailers, such as retailers IGA and Drakes, account for about 17 per cent.

Coles and Woolworths have stated emphatically that competition in the sector is fierce.

Last week, the ACCC’s 441-page report into the supermarkets did not find evidence of price gouging, but pushed for greater pricing transparency in the sector.

“The ACCC is recommending ALDI, Coles and Woolworths be required to publish their prices on their websites, and Coles and Woolworths also make available application programming interfaces that provide dynamic price information to third parties such as online price comparison tools,” the watchdog stated.

On Tuesday night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed a fresh $38.8m budget injection into the ACCC to strengthen its ability to investigate illegality in the sector.