Kiwis are likely losing large amounts of money to misleading and inaccurate pricing, and major supermarkets must do better to make refunds and prevent such issues in the future, according to Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden.

“The groceries sector is a $25 billion a year business, so even if errors only make up a very small percentage of sales, the total overcharge paid by Kiwis at the checkout would run to tens of millions of dollars every year, and this is unacceptable,” van Heerden said.

While accurate pricing is a consumer right and an expectation of a competitive market, the level of pricing errors remains high, he continued, adding that major supermarkets are not doing enough to fix the problems.

The Grocery Commissioner has sought a commitment from the chief executives of Foodstuffs and Woolworths NZ. He also plans to introduce a mandatory disclosure standard requiring major supermarkets to disclose information about customer complaints, including around pricing and promotional issues.

Customers can play an important role in bringing pricing issues to the attention of supermarkets. However, current refund policies across major supermarkets are either absent, inadequate in the benefits they offer, or not advertised clearly and prominently, van Heerden added.

To deal with this, the Commerce Commission expects supermarkets to review and amend refund policies related to pricing integrity, as well as to promote the policies in-store, online and through direct mail communications.