Is Foodstuffs being sneaky with another online shopping search change?

In November, shoppers were outraged when Consumer found that a crucial online shopping tool (the ability to rank searched items by price) had gone missing from both supermarkets’ websites.

One user complained that it “makes it much harder for consumers to find the cheapest product”.

Foodstuffs said it was upgrading both websites to meet new unit pricing measures, then reinstated the tool.

Now, Consumer member Jennifer has come across another problem with the new, upgraded search functions for both supermarkets: the self-reset search function.

Why Foodstuffs websites reset after every search

Jennifer wrote to us to complain about “another trick” she noticed while ordering her groceries online. She said it made her regular shopping experience “very tedious and annoying”.

“I would like to bring to your attention another trick that Foodstuffs are playing in order to make it more difficult for on-line shoppers to compare prices on their website,” she said.

“What they are doing now is making the ‘low to high’ [search] filter disappear as soon as you look for another item. The page reverts to a filter called ‘relevance’ ... so you have to keep changing the filter every time you need to look for your next item.”

We decided to test this for ourselves and can confirm that Jennifer is indeed correct. After every search, the drop-down menu on the New World and Pak’nSave websites resets to “relevance” rather than the search function we originally chose. And it is very annoying.

A Foodstuffs spokesperson also confirmed the change. They told us it is “considered industry standard” and used by many supermarket and retail chains.

“Our insights suggest that, while many customers look for value first, there are just as many other customers who prefer to do more relevant searches in other categories while doing their online shopping,” they said.

Is that true?

What other retailers do

We surveyed the websites for a range of major local retailers and found many reset their search functions for every single search. The reset also occurs on the website of Foodstuffs’ biggest competitor, Woolworths.

However, other retailers offer consumers more in-depth search functions. Farmers, for example, gives users a range of tick boxes in a left-hand page menu. Options include filtering searches by size, brand, age group and price. These reset with every search.

The websites for electronic retailers Harvey Norman and Noel Leeming , clothing stores North Beach and Hallensteins also offer users expanded search functions in a permanent left-hand or top down menu. These reset with every search too. The record store Real Groovy does not reset with every search.

Foodstuffs provides its expanded search options in smaller drop-down menus at the top of the page. These reset for every search, meaning, if you’re looking for dairy- or gluten-free products online, you’ll need to retick those boxes each time you view a new product.

Could there be an ulterior reason for the search function change?

In our research, we found that the New World and Pak’nSave websites offer their in-house brand product Pams as the first search result in almost every category we looked at. In recent years, Pams products have proliferated on the shelves, as have the equivalent Woolworths in-house brands in those supermarkets.

We believe that expanding in-house ranges at supermarkets reduces choices for consumers, hurts local suppliers and increases supermarket profit margins.

A Foodstuffs spokesperson denied their website promoted Pams products over those of other suppliers.

“Search results aren’t biased toward Pams products – they’re based on regional sales data or customers’ inferred preferences. Occasionally, we may boost categories or pin products for promotions, but there are no specific rules for Pams. Logged-in users get personalised results, while logged-out users see region-based data.”

Foodstuffs’ search functions are here to stay

A spokesperson confirmed that the new reset search function isn’t a bug, but has been designed that way and is here to stay.

In a cost-of-living crisis, with a grocery sector dominated by a duopoly accused of extracting $1 million a day in excess profits from their customers, we believe customers should be offered every search option possible to help save money.

As it stands, Jennifer, and anyone who wants to order their groceries online, face a lot more clicking around when searching for the things they want to buy at the right price.