Renters more concerned about paying for food than rent, Consumer NZ finds

Tuesday, 14 March 2023

The rising cost to supply produce to retail supermarkets is responsible for most price increases, up 24% in the last year.

Paying for food is a greater concern for New Zealanders than being able to pay rent, a Consumer NZ survey has found.

Consumer NZ spokesperson Gemma Rasmussen said food concerns had been steadily creeping up over the last 18 months – but this was the first time food worries had outstripped housing.

In June 2021, food ranked as the eighth-highest financial concern. New Zealanders were more worried about education costs, personal debt and even home maintenance outgoings than food.

But in 2023 the number one financial concern was mortgage payments, followed by food and then rent.

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Food prices are up 12% year-on-year, the highest increase since 1989.

Since September, Consumer NZ had been calling on the major supermarkets to end what it described as “dodgy pricing practices and promotions” in the wake of cost-of-living woes.

“At a bare minimum, shoppers need to be able to trust the prices they see at the supermarkets, so they can make informed choices,” Rasmussen said.

“New Zealanders have been sending us examples of shelf pricing failing to match the price charged at the till, 'special’ prices matching regular prices and multibuy offers which work out to be more expensive than purchasing items individually.”

This week Consumer NZ sent open letters to the chief executives of Foodstuffs North and South Island, and the managing director of Woolworths, Countdown’s parent company, outlining the alleged dodgy pricing – and how it could breach the Fair Trading Act – giving them a month to clean up their pricing practices.

Among the examples shared was a “great price” of $13.10 for dog food – listed next to its usual selling price of $12.50 and cheese that was on “special” at $4.90 – with the usual selling price of $4.80 clearly visible. Dog food, priced at $2.79 each, had an “extra low” offer of two for $6.

Off the back of the Commerce Commission market study into the grocery sector, it was left to the supermarkets to take responsibility for ensuring pricing and promotional strategies are simple and easy to understand. Consumer NZ believed Foodstuffs and Woolworths were failing to do this.

“With colder months ahead, many households are bracing for higher energy costs as well as pricier food bills. Nearly half (45%) of households are planning to set aside more money for groceries as costs increase, compared to June 2021, when one in four households set aside additional funds,” Rasmussen said.

Foodstuffs North Island spokesperson Emma Wooster said its teams were fully focused on doing all they could to keep prices low for customers.

“We serve over 3.5 million shopping visits each week in our stores and on-line. When an issue is identified with our pricing or ticketing, we work quickly to address them and will always refund customers if issues are found.

“As part of our work since the Commerce Commission’s market study, we have worked to simplify pricing and promotions as per the commission’s recommendations, and we report on that work publicly via our market study dashboards which can be found on our websites.”

A Countdown spokesperson said it aimed to ensure that its prices were clear, accurate and unambiguous.

“We have a number of processes and dedicated team members to help with this, but with thousands of products and ticket changes made each week in every one of our stores, occasionally mistakes do happen. This is not our intention, and we want our customers to have confidence in our pricing.

“Consumer NZ has brought to our attention what appears to be ticketing errors. We are currently reviewing these examples and are investigating fully.”