Foodstuffs progress on Commerce Commission recommendations

Tāmaki Makaurau - Foodstuffs has today released its second quarterly update on its progress against implementing the Commerce Commission’s final recommendations from the retail grocery market study.

In April, the co-op launched a reporting dashboard to track its progress against the recommendations and committed to publicly reporting on a quarterly basis via the dashboard.

Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin says a number of workstreams continue to be well underway to support competition in the industry and make sure that New Zealanders are getting value at the supermarket checkout.

“Our latest dashboard update includes important recent developments and commitments in relation to the establishment of a grocery code of conduct, the removal of restrictive land covenants, progress towards more unit pricing, and access to our co-operatives’ wholesale supply for non-member retailers that will collectively deliver better value for all New Zealanders,” he says.

Food prices are at record highs globally, but Foodstuffs says it has managed to keep food price increases below food price inflation levels.

In May, food price inflation was at 6.8 percent and average cost price increases to Foodstuffs from suppliers was 6.9 percent, while retail prices to Foodstuffs’ customers on the same products increased 4.7 percent.

This meant Food Stuffs held prices at 2.1 percent less than inflation. Their price roll back initiative immediately reduced prices on 110 items to 2021 levels, saving Kiwis more than $1 million a week on their groceries.

It’s another way that we’ve been able to deliver value for customers in recent months, particularly in the face of rising inflation and increasing pressure on household budgets.

Quin says their customers have trust to receive a fair deal at the checkout. Four Square took out the top spots for overall satisfaction in the supermarket category of this year’s Canstar blue awards, with Pak’nsave and New World taking out the other spots in the top three.

Pak’nsave has been recognised as New Zealand’s leading company for fairness and one of country’s top five performing companies in the 2022 Kantar Corporate Reputation Index.

Its top spot placing as fairness leaders is another nod to the great work Pak’nsave is doing to ensure it delivers NZ’s lowest prices to its customers every day and follows its win as NZ’s most trusted supermarket in the 2022 Readers Digest trusted brands survey.

New World also delivered a world class corporate reputation score in the index ranking at 14 out of 50.

The Kantar corporate reputation index measures excellence on four key platforms: leadership/success, responsibility, trust, and fairness (pricing).

Quin says their work to implement the commission’s recommendations and being accountable for that is one way it can keep earning the trust of its customers.