Consumer watchdog zeroes in on Woolworths’ allegedly fake discounts as it meets supermarket giant in court
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/apr/21/consumer-watchdog-accc-supermarket-woolworths-court-hearings-australia
Consumer watchdog zeroes in on Woolworths’ allegedly fake discounts as it meets supermarket giant in court
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/apr/21/consumer-watchdog-accc-supermarket-woolworths-court-hearings-australia
11 Comments
And will anything significant happen? I think we know the answer to that one.
Every time an article is posted about the ACCC taking action against Coles and Woolies the comments are all cynical and saying nothing will happen.
There’s been huge reform in this space and the fines can be huge now, up to 10% of annual turnover.
> If Coles and Woolworths breach these new price gouging laws, the maximum penalty per contravention is the greater of: $10 million; three times the value of the benefit derived, or, if that value cannot be determined; 10 per cent of the company’s turnover during the preceding 12 months. [[Source](https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/media-releases/banning-supermarket-price-gouging-protect-australian)]
The regulator actually has the stones to take both massive supermarkets to court for their anticompetitive practices and price gouging. It’s a good thing and a good sign.
Just because the ACCC was a wet blanket in the past doesn’t mean it’s doomed to be forever.
The real issue isn’t just fake discounts, it’s how normalised they became before anyone stepped in.
Go to small independent grocers where you can. They’re often not too hard to find — we just need to put aside the Colesworth saturation advertising.
Just make a law that they can advertise standard price but if they advertise it’s on sale they have to list the AVG price of the last 12 months
CW: How much extra did you earn from fake discounts?
WW: Our records show about $50 million for the last financial year.
CW: We’re handing down a fine of $500,000, now behave yourselves going forward.
It’s interesting, because there’s people that monitor prices across stores. And the internet is forever.
It’s not like they can actually hide doing this on any prices.
Just a shame even with proof, very little will happen.
The most annoying “response” is “suppliers have raised the prices something something” except, seemingly suppliers have only raised prices at coles and woolworths? If coles and woolworths changed their supplier to “buy it on Amazon” they’d supposedly be doubling their profits. They could send someone with a trolley over to Aldi and replace their whole supply chain.
Like they have laundry powder boxes routinely 50% off from “RRP” of $40. RRP everywhere else is less than $20. It’s not even within the realms of plausibility – it’s just straight malice.
Can’t wait for a $250,000 fine which will put a HUGE dent in their BILLION DOLLARS of profit.
They do this shit cos they know the profit will be more than the fine.
Item sells at $10 for 12 months.
Item goes up to $15 for a few weeks.
Item goes on sale for $12 “SAVE $3”
The accusation is the discount is fake, Woolworth argument is they have been selling it for $15 for a few weeks.
I might be missing something here but shouldn’t this be easy to have defined periods? Prices do go up over time, that’s understandable and inevitable. When **IS** it ok to say the price ‘was’ $15?
Listen in on the case via YouTube. The judge is totally out of touch about the “average consumer”. He’s on $520,000 a year and probably thinks a banana costs $10. I got the same vibe after watching most of the ACCC v Coles case.
He seems to think it takes “extraordinary analysis” by the average consumer — of complex retail considerations, wholesale price increase, rebates from suppliers, blah blah — to come to the conclusion that these price spikes are fake and designed to make it seem like higher prices are a better deal.
Meanwhile, every man and his dog knows this doesn’t pass the pub test.
If either or both cases don’t have a favourable outcome for the ACCC I fully expect them to appeal on the basis of this judge’s understanding of the reasonable consumer.