Supermarkets sneakily reducing the size of products without lowering prices are in the Federal Government’s sights as it launches a crackdown on “shrinkflation”.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce the next step in Labor’s assault on the supermarket giants in the fallout of the dodgy discounts scandal, which includes “substantial” penalties for breaches of unit pricing rules.
The Government says the practice of “shrinkflation” is becoming increasingly common at grocery stores, ripping off customers who end up paying the same, or higher, prices for less.
In one example exposed by consumer advocate Choice, the price of Coles’ Mighty Grain cereal remained at $4.50 despite packets shrinking from 560 grams to 495 grams.
To combat the problem the Government wants to strengthen the rules for so-called “unit pricing”, which allow shoppers to compare prices of similar products based on a standard unit of measurement, such as kilogram or gram.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) supermarket inquiry heard concerns about unit pricing, including the size and font of in-store product labels.
The Government will consult on changes to the Unit Pricing Code, including making it easier for customers to see the prices and address the inconsistent use of measurement units across supermarkets.
It will also seek feedback on expanding the range of retailers captured under the code.
Supermarkets will face bigger fines — understood to be in the millions — for breaches.
“Tackling ‘shrinkflation’ through stronger unit pricing and new penalties is part of our plan to get a better deal for Australians,” Mr Albanese said.
The crackdown on “shrinkflation” is the latest in a string of measures targeting supermarkets announced by the Government since the ACCC last week launched legal action against Coles and Woolworths over allegedly sham discounts.
The Government has handed the consumer watchdog an extra $30 million to conduct more investigations into dodgy discounts and started consultation on a mandatory food and grocery code.
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