![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1d6419be13aa9280d0a4132d991ec3d3adfaaaf85e9396b2f7a52ebb2dd15b00.png\")
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April 20, 2026 \u2014 7:06pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Woolworths negotiated with suppliers to put products on \u201cdiscounts\u201d at the same time as it agreed to raise prices, resulting in hundreds of pantry staples being sold on special for more than the supermarket had been charging months earlier.<\/p>\n Court documents published on the eve of a landmark trial between the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the supermarket giant show that of 276 products, 265 had been sold under the \u201cPrices Dropped\u201d program for amounts that were higher than they had been for a previous 180-day period.<\/p>\n In 254 of those cases, prices and supplier funding behind the red and white tickets were planned before the temporary price spike had begun, according to the statement of agreed facts between Woolworths and the consumer watchdog.<\/p>\n Woolworths quietly discontinued the \u201cPrices Dropped\u201d program in December 2024, after the commission sued it and rival Coles over their allegedly illusory discounting strategies. Woolworths replaced it with another discounting strategy promising lower prices for longer periods.<\/p>\n The watchdog\u2019s case against Coles finished in late February, and its outcome will be released by the Federal Court only once a different judge has heard the related case against Woolworths that begins in Sydney on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Related Article In court, the ACCC\u2019s barrister Michael Hodge, KC, will argue that Australia\u2019s largest supermarket sold popular products such as Tim Tams, Tiny Teddy biscuits and Sakata rice crackers under fake discounts in which a product was sold for one price, increased to a second price, and then discounted to a third price higher than the first.<\/p>\n In one instance, the price of a family pack of Oreos, sold for $3.50 for nearly two years, was hiked 43 per cent to $5 for 22 days before being placed on the \u201cPrices Dropped\u201d program to a price of $4.50. Although the customer was being told it \u201cwas\u201d $5, they were paying a dollar more than the month before.<\/p>\n \u201cWoolworths represented to consumers that the prices of affected products promoted on \u2018Prices Dropped\u2019 were discounted when, in fact, the purported discount was illusory,\u201d the ACCC says in its concise statement.<\/p>\n It accused the supermarket of making \u201cfalse or misleading representations\u201d by promoting the discounts as helping shoppers make long-term savings on groceries at a time of rapidly climbing cost-of-living pressures.<\/p>\n In its defence, Woolworths says its discounts were real. It said supplier negotiations typically included the new undiscounted price and the promotional price, and were \u201ca standard feature of the Australian supermarket retail industry\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThose discounts were not \u2018illusory\u2019,\u201d the company says in court documents.<\/p>\n \u201cThe labels for the products accurately identified that the prices had been \u2018dropped\u2019, accurately identified the previous higher price, and identified the date at which the product had been sold at that previous higher price.\u201d<\/p>\n Woolworths introduced the \u201cPrices Dropped\u201d program in 2015. It kept products at discounted prices for at least 12 weeks, and up to six months or longer. Included products were marked by red and white shelf tickets, displayed in store and online, with the \u201cdropped\u201d price alongside a \u201cwas\u201d price.<\/p>\n The ACCC filed proceedings<\/a> in September 2024, just weeks after Amanda Bardwell took over as Woolworths chief executive from predecessor Brad Banducci<\/a>.<\/p>\n Woolworths confirmed to this masthead that it had retired its Prices Dropped program as the $45 billion supermarket giant pivoted to \u201cLower Shelf Prices\u201d, which promised to lock lower prices for several months on end.<\/p>\n Related Article In May 2025, Bardwell told shoppers the company was lowering prices on hundreds of products, including staples like Greek yoghurt, chicken schnitzel, bread, flour, rice and nappies.<\/p>\n Lower Shelf Price does not have the \u201cwas\/is\u201d prices of the Prices Dropped program.<\/p>\n Woolworths\u2019 decision to retire Prices Dropped contrasts with Coles, which has maintained its \u201cDown Down\u201d program despite the ACCC suing it over that discount campaign. Coles rejected those allegations in court.<\/p>\n Both supermarkets run multiple promotional programs, or \u201cpricing mechanics\u201d, at the same time. On top of its Lower Shelf Price program, Woolworths has online-only specials, half-price specials, Autumn specials, Everyday Low Price, Buy More Save More, and Bundles.<\/p>\n One former supermarket executive, who declined to be named so they could speak freely, said the number of programs often perplexed employees within the company.<\/p>\n \u201cI do find those confusing as well,\u201d they said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got all these different pricing mechanics, and you\u2019d go, \u2018what do each of those mean?\u2019. They are a little bit different [to each other].\u201d<\/p>\n The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.<\/a><\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Australian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/d884196bafeb0356fd6fcad3811011231e3ceb85.jpeg\")
Australian shoppers don\u2019t see much of \u2018Prices Dropped\u2019 in store any more after Woolworths retired the campaign last year.Getty<\/p>\n![\"ACCC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/c07bd5ffe51ecf520192ee17fc7aec4a675238f5.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Coles](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772031733_694_fc92ea339f926b1d236441b08c680e9e8285a925.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767770052_926_1d6419be13aa9280d0a4132d991ec3d3adfaaaf85e9396b2f7a52ebb2dd15b00.png\")
Jessica Yun<\/a> is a business reporter covering retail and food for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 20, 2026 \u2014 7:06pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-619090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}