Govt reveals grocery unit-pricing plan

Large supermarkets will be required to display and advertise the unit price of all
packaged grocery items by the end of this year.
Small supermarkets and corner stores have been exempted from the federal government
plan, which is aimed at giving consumers more information about grocery prices.
Details of the mandatory national unit-pricing regime, released on Thursday, have
been welcomed by consumer groups and retailers.
Unit pricing will apply to all store-based retailers that have a grocery display
area greater than 1,000 square metres and supply a prescribed range of food-based
grocery items.
More than half of Australia's supermarkets will thus need to comply with the scheme.
Online retailers that supply a prescribed range of food-based grocery items will
have the same obligations.
Supermarkets will be required to include unit pricing on print advertising and
website advertisements, but not broadcast advertising.
This means stores will have to display prices per unit measure - per 100 grams, 100
millilitres, per metre or per item.
"Unit pricing will help consumers compare packaged grocery items of different sizes
easily and quickly," Consumer Affairs Minister Chris Bowen told reporters.
The system will be useful where the sizes of packaged items are similar but not
identical, he said.
Some goods, such as meat or bread discounted at the end of the day, will be exempted
from the scheme.
The low cost of the scheme pleases retailers.
"We have always supported a cost-effective national scheme and the government's
model reflects this," Australian National Retailers Association CEO Margy Osmond
said.
It was a better approach than prescriptive or state-based schemes that would cost
more but give consumers no more useful information, she said.
Consumer advocate group Choice has hailed it as a win for consumers, though it still
has some concerns about the scheme.
It wants supermarkets to display unit prices at a "prominent" size and wants the
scheme to stipulate a minimum font size.
Choice also wants unit pricing applied to "specials" and "multi-buys", items
exempted from the planned scheme.
Supermarket giant Woolworths plans to have its own unit-pricing program for about
19,000 products rolled out to all its 790 stores by September.
It says customer feedback since the rollout began in November has been very positive
and the planned national scheme will involve little additional cost to retailers.
Discount supermarket ALDI - the first retailer to introduce unit pricing in November
2007 - says the planned scheme will provide a level playing field for Australian
retail competition.
The federal opposition welcomed the plan.
Opposition spokesman for consumer affairs Luke Hartsuyker said any move which
increased transparency for shoppers was a good thing.
But he warned the government must make sure the extra costs imposed on businesses by
unit pricing should not lead to higher prices.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which recommended a unit-pricing
scheme in its inquiry into grocery prices last year, will enforce the scheme.
The final version of the code comes into force from December.