[LINK] shopping website back

[Jan Whitaker]

Watchdog site set to bust shop duopoly

http://www.theage.com.au/national/watchdog-site-set-to-bust-shop-duopoly-20100313-q59d.html


DANIELLA MILETIC

March 14, 2010

CONSUMER watchdog Choice has taken on Coles and Woolworths with a new 
website aimed at getting shoppers, farmers and suppliers to publicly 
voice their concerns about the duopoly.

Choice says the initiative will force grocery prices to drop.

It is not the website the federal government offered, and failed to 
deliver, in a pre-election promise to ease cost-of-living pressures.

It is Choice's version of the controversial price-comparison website, 
which was scrapped by the government last year.

The government said at the time it was concerned about the accuracy 
of the information and potential for incorrect prices being listed. 
Choice says it was dumped because of lack of co-operation from the 
two major chains.

The non-profit consumer group asks shoppers to look beyond the major 
two supermarket chains for cheaper groceries.

Consumers will notice if they visit checkoutchoice.com.au that it, 
too, does not offer shoppers individual prices for items at their 
local supermarkets or state which store is the cheapest in their area.

Under a ''take action'' category, consumers are asked to join a 
national campaign to bring competition to the supermarket sector. 
They are asked if they have noticed any items on supermarket shelves 
being replaced by the supermarket's own home brand items.

The website also calls for farmers and suppliers to tell any stories 
they may have about the ''ugly side of market power''. Shoppers can 
click on ''dob in a price scam'' when advertised pricing does not 
match the reality.

Choice chief executive Nick Stace tells visitors to the site that in 
Australia over 75 per cent of all packaged groceries are sold by 
Woolworths and Coles.

But the Australian Retailers Association, which represents Coles and 
Woolworths, said the sector had never been more competitive. ''The 
major supermarkets have worked hard to introduce more price 
transparency,'' chief executive Margy Osmond said.



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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