The great grocery rip-off
Aussies pay much more than Brits
AUSTRALIANS are being rorted at the checkout by greedy multinationals charging vastly more than what Brits pay for the same products.
In the ultimate indignity, Poms are even getting a better deal on Australian-made Vegemite.
The swindle at the supermarket could not come at a worse time, with the lowest wage growth on record heaping pressure on household bud- gets. Australians’ standard of living has not improved since 2011, the worst stretch since the recession of the early 1990s.
Coles boss John Durkan said it paid more at the wholesale level than UK supermarkets charge at the retail level for Coca-Cola, Cadbury chocolate and Heinz baked beans.
“Multinationals think they can charge more in this country,” he said. “We are going to give consumers an alternative.”
He revealed Coles planned to aggressively expand its “private label” grocery offering, with the goal of increasing sales from about 15 per cent to 25 per cent within a decade.
Asked why Vegemite is 13 per cent more expensive here, Mr Durkan said Kraft’s owner, Mondelez, gave British chains a better price.
“Vegemite has all of the market here, meaning they can effectively charge what they want for that product,” he said.
“But in the UK they are up against a homegrown product: Marmite. They are offering a lower price to get into that market.”
Ron Wood, managing director of consultancy Pricing Insight, agreed, saying the claim Australia was a Treasure Island for consumer goods manufacturers had some truth to it.
Mondelez spokeswoman Lainie Kirk said it “does not set end retail prices”. Many factors affected shelf price and this varied from market to market.
The multinationals’ lobby group, the Australian Food and Grocery Council, said Australian supermarkets made a 41 per cent profit on products compared with 24 per cent internationally.
Coles’s Mr Durkan said Australian supermarkets’ mar- gin was about 4 per cent compared with 3 per cent in the UK, which “doesn’t explain the difference in retail prices”.
A News Corp Australia comparison of 11 popular items sold here and the UK reveals the extent of the rip-off. Pantene shampoo is 54 per cent dearer here, and Duck toilet cleaner 65 per cent dearer. A Mars Bar is nearly twice the price.
Vegemite’s ownership will transfer to Bega Cheese from next month.
Woolworths did not comment.