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If you’ve noticed your grocery bills rising over the past year, you’re not alone.
Grocery expenses have seen their largest annual hike in five years. A survey by Canstar Blue indicates that the average weekly cost for a family of four has climbed 11%, from $216 to $240.
This totals an annual grocery expense of $12,480, close to $3,000 more than the same household would have spent in 2021.
The survey, involving 2,800 Australians, reported that weekly shopping included items such as fruits, vegetables, dairy, bakery, deli, pantry staples, beverages, frozen foods, and household goods.
Canstar Blue’s spokesperson, Eden Radford, shared with SBS News their surprise at the magnitude of the increase, even though an uptick was anticipated.
Radford noted that shoppers increasingly report spending more at the supermarket and feel they’re not receiving the same value for their money as in prior years.
According to Canstar Blue, a family’s typical grocery spending has risen by $25 per week compared to last year. Credit: SBS
Inflation easing, Grocery prices climbing
“I think, unfortunately, because of the increased costs over the last few years, it’s just added up,” Radford said.
“When you are getting a slight increase one year, unfortunately, those prices don’t go back down. They usually stay, or they usually increase again.”
Annual trimmed mean inflation has also been 2.7 per cent for the year ending 30 June, down from 2.9 per cent in the March quarter, according to the ABS.
Trimmed mean inflation is a metric that omits the most volatile price swings to deliver a clearer picture of underlying inflation trends.
Radford said while there have been some decreases in inflation numbers, there are still “elements of inflation across all of the things that we’re purchasing”.
“It does come through in terms of how the supermarkets are bringing their goods to us,” she said.
“At the end of the day, when we’re shopping at that supermarket, the prices we’re paying often [are] the result of increased fuel costs or increased storage costs or increased needs to get it to the country. And that I think unfortunately is what we’re having to pay.”
Australian supermarkets have faced accusations of engaging in price gouging, a practice where businesses exploit higher demand or limited supply to substantially increase prices.
Supermarket giants like Coles and Woolworths have repeatedly denied these claims, while the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s report in March found no evidence of price gouging.
A report from consumer advocacy group CHOICE also showed that the location of shopping might impact grocery prices.
By comparing the prices of groceries at 104 supermarkets in 27 locations across Australia in March, CHOICE found that “the state you live in does make a difference to how much you pay”.
The report from Canstar Blue highlights that the Northern Territory households have the lowest average grocery costs, while Tasmania’s residents face the highest supermarket expenditures.
‘Frozen’ instead of ‘fresh’
According to Radford, the price increase has made people change “how they shop”.
“We’ve seen people, particularly in the last 12 months, choose to buy frozen instead of fresh,” she said.
“They are doing things like shopping at different times. So you know, either going very early or even late.”
Shopping around different supermarkets is also a new tactic among customers to face the rising prices, with Canstar Blue reporting more than 61 per cent of shoppers visit two or more supermarkets each week.
Overall, 80 per cent of Canstar Blue’s survey participants reported changing their shopping habits in the past year to reduce costs.
“Any increase in prices, particularly for something like the grocery bill for a family, is never good news, and it’s never something that is easy to manage,” Radford said.
“What we are hoping and what we’re seeing in this research is that more and more Australians are not just coping [with] it, they’re saying, ‘Gold on, maybe I can go try a different supermarket.'”
