GroceryChoice starts

The Government will this morning launch its grocery price watch scheme, GroceryChoice. Similar to the controversial FuelWatch scheme, the website will allow people to compare prices for a basket of goods, including meat, vegetables and milk, to find the cheapest supermarket in their area. The prices will be updated monthly through a survey of 600 supermarkets across the nation.

the website will allow people to compare prices for a basket of goods, including meat, vegetables and milk, to find the cheapest supermarket in their area.

Sorry, it’s not going to help the housewife or husband plan their shopping trip. Monthly updates will never beat the weekly brochures stores drop in their letterbox for free. As the site is only updated on the first business day of the month then unless one shops that day or the next the prices will be out of whack. I can’t see the major players responding to, or being frightened of, a government website that will have neither currency nor item prices. They are already competing with each other on a more frequent rotation and advertise this regularly with letter box drops and TV adds. Time will tell but it’s typical of this government to set up monitoring websites when there are practical steps they can take. As groceries are delivered by trucks then it might be a good idea to give the bona fide small truck operators a fuel discount like the major companies receive. Now that has a good chance of lowering grocery costs. GroceryChoice