Shoppers shed allegiances in search for supermarket savings

Cash-strapped Australians are hunting multiple supermarket aisles in search of bargains amid a post-COVID cost-of-living crisis which has seen significant belt tightening by mortgage holders and renters alike.

And among the hardest hit foods by price rises remain consumer staples such as bread, dairy and eggs, according to the nation’s two major supermarkets.

Speaking at a Federal Government hearing into competition on Tuesday, Woolworths chief commercial officer Paul Harker said competition in the supermarket industry was strong, spurred by a growing willingness from customers to visit multiple outlets in the search for low prices.

“In the past year around seven in 10 of our customers have also shopped at Coles, Aldi and IGA,” he said.

“The biggest area we have seen with cost increase has been across the dairy category – that has been a function of the significant lift of farm gate prices.”

Mr Harker said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had led to similar price rises in grain and oil-based products.

His comments followed similar sentiment from Coles government and industry relations manager Vittoria Bon, who said most of the supermarket giant’s customers these days were visiting competitors in search of bargains.

“People now are more conscious about specials offered by all the retailers,” she said.

“You have Aldi, Coles, Metcash, Woolworths, Costco and you’ve got Amazon.”

Ms Bon said Coles made about $2.70 on every $100 spent with the company.

The news comes as Australia's latest inflation data is due for release, which is expected to cool from a CPI of 7 per cent in the March quarter but remain above the target range of 2-3 per cent.