A new price comparison survey from CHOICE has uncovered which supermarket has the cheapest branded products.
It ranked Aldi the cheapest on average for branded products, which they found to be 20% cheaper at the discount retailer, compared to Woolworths and Coles.
The survey compared more than 150 national brand products sold at the three retailers, recording the pack size, price and unit price and, where pack sizes differed, calculated these based on the price/unit price of the closest available pack size.
While some products were found to be priced the same, and a few price higher at Aldi, the majority were found to be cheaper – in some cases by as much as 57%.
Among the products Aldi offered the biggest savings on were Colgate Optic White, Nescafe Blend, Cadbury Favourites and Dairy Milk, Nestle Milo and V Energy Drinks.
However the consumer advocacy group did find a variation in pack sizes between retailers, with 36 items smaller and 19 larger at Aldi compared with those stocked at Coles and Woolworths. While Aldi stocks Arnott’s Barbecue Shapes in 250g boxes, CHOICE found these were in 175g boxes at its rivals and Bega Peanut Butter, ranged at 755g at Aldi was 780g at the other two.
The differing sizing, CHOICE found, hampered consumer efforts to calculate savings across retailers. Instead, they advise calculating savings based on unit pricing, rather than selling prices.