Supermarket campaign FAQs

What is a pricing error?

Supermarket pricing errors include instances where:

• advertised or displayed prices are different from the price charged at the checkout

• products advertised as specials do not represent a genuine saving

• multi-buy offers are more expensive than purchasing items individually.

Unit pricing errors may also occur. All these errors mean customers are misled and/or overcharged.

What compensation would shoppers be eligible for under this code?

If you noticed a pricing error on an item at the supermarket before purchasing it, you would get the item for free by presenting it, and proof of the error, at the checkout.

If you didn’t notice the error until after the purchase, you would be entitled to keep the item and get a full refund for it upon producing proof of purchase and proof of the error to the supermarket.

Supermarkets would then have to automatically refund or credit anyone else in their databases who was impacted by the error.

How would a supermarket pricing accuracy code work, and when would it come into effect?

The supermarket pricing accuracy code would require an amendment to the Fair Trading Act (FTA). The FTA is being reviewed in 2026, but these changes are likely to take years to come into effect, so we are calling for the code to be enacted before the end of the government’s current term.

What is an infringement notice?

Infringement notices are like instant fines that the Commerce Commission can issue, without having to take court action. The Commission already has the power to issue infringement notices in some situations. We think it should be able to issue infringement notices to supermarkets for clear-cut breaches of the code.

Are current rules enough to address pricing errors?

The Fair Trading Act prohibits traders from misleading or deceiving consumers. This includes prohibiting misleading pricing. However, even if supermarkets do something misleading or deceiving, there's often not much shoppers can practically do to seek redress. Better remedies and stronger penalties are required to ensure supermarkets are incentivised to comply with the law.

What penalties should apply?

In Australia, the maximum penalty for breaching fair trading laws is the greater of:

• $50,000,000

• 3 times the value of the benefit obtained (if that can be determined)

• 30% of the company’s turnover during the breach period (if the value of the benefit cannot be obtained).

We think similar penalties should apply in New Zealand.

How would consumers know their rights under the code?

We think the code should require supermarkets to clearly disclose shoppers' rights in store and online so that shoppers can understand their rights.

Will signing this petition bring down the price of groceries?

While a supermarket pricing accuracy code won’t lower the cost of groceries, it will mean that when the supermarket makes a pricing error, you don’t have to pay for it – the supermarket does. The Grocery Commissioner said pricing errors currently cost shoppers tens of millions of dollars a year.

What can the government do about pricing inaccuracies?

We’re calling for the government to introduce a pricing accuracy code. This includes stronger penalties for breaching the code, as one way of bringing about meaningful change and putting a stop to misleading supermarket pricing. Forcing supermarkets to compensate shoppers would also ensure that people aren’t forking out for supermarkets’ mistakes.

What’s Consumer NZ’s New Zealand Grocery Survey?

Consumer NZ surveyed 1,005 New Zealanders aged 18 years and over online, between 10 and 15 April 2025 for its New Zealand Grocery Survey. The sample was provided by the American survey research company Dynata and reflects national population profiles based on Stats NZ data. The survey reveals a strong public appetite for government action to improve access to affordable food. Many respondents called for clear and effective government intervention, while also expressing low confidence in its ability to deliver.

The survey also revealed the growing impact of rising prices on households. Our survey results showed that 30% of people have needed help over the past year to get food – for example, from foodbanks, friends, family or Work and Income.

Why is Consumer NZ’s supermarket campaign petition focused on pricing and promotional issues?

While supermarket pricing errors may seem minor in the grand scheme of things, they are costing shoppers tens of millions of dollars every year. Supermarkets have been aware of this problem for years but seem unwilling to fix it. However, they have invested in marketing and loss prevention efforts. Given supermarkets’ excessive profits, we believe they are well resourced to prioritise sorting out pricing and promotional activity, and that might help restore diminishing public trust in the supermarket sector. It should be an easy fix. If supermarkets don’t sort out their pricing, then the higher penalties we are calling for will hit the supermarkets where it hurts: their bottom line.

Aren’t supermarkets already being prosecuted for their dodgy pricing?

The Commerce Commission has announced it is filing criminal charges against Woolworths NZ, Pak’nSave Silverdale and Pak’nSave Mill Street for inaccurate pricing and misleading specials that may have breached the Fair Trading Act. This follows our complaint to the commission, which was only possible thanks to the dodgy supermarket pricing examples the public shared with us throughout 2022 and 2023. Unfortunately, we are still receiving complaints about inaccurate pricing. Enough is enough.

What will happen if this petition receives 20,000 or more signatures?

We will present the petition to the minister of economic growth, Nicola Willis, to consider – she has signalled she is open to making regulatory changes to force the supermarkets to lift their game.