{"id":611939,"date":"2026-09-10T16:28:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/611939\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T16:28:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:28:41","slug":"woolworths-increased-prices-of-at-least-four-family-staples-during-price-freeze-promotion-woolworths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/611939\/","title":{"rendered":"Woolworths increased prices of at least four \u2018family staples\u2019 during \u2018Price Freeze\u2019 promotion | Woolworths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Woolworths raised prices for popular items \u2013 including a 33% mark up on chicken fillets \u2013 within days of promising to freeze prices on 300 \u201cfamily staples\u201d for three months to help customers with the cost of living.<\/p>\n

Pricing data, compiled by comparison website CW Scanner and provided to Guardian Australia, shows the supermarket chain increasing the prices of at least four key products after starting the three-month \u201cPrice Freeze\u201d promotion on 1 May.<\/p>\n

The supermarket nearly doubled the price of a 420g can of Woolworths \u201cMexican Style 3 Bean Mix\u201d during the promotional period \u2013 from 60c to $1 on 17 June \u2013 the data shows. Woolworths dropped the price back to 60c on 17 August.<\/p>\n

Woolworths declined to comment on the analysis. But it is understood that it justified the increases during the \u201cPrice Freeze\u201d because it regarded the previous prices as promotional prices, rather than the \u201cstandard shelf price\u201d for each product.<\/p>\n

When the price freeze was announced<\/a>, the Woolworths chief executive officer, Amanda Bardwell, said the supermarket wanted to help customers who were concerned about how inflation driven by the war on Iran was affecting household budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why, for the next three months, we\u2019re freezing the shelf price on 300 staples that families rely on most, like eggs, chicken breast fillets, pasta, beef sausages and nappies,\u201d Bardwell said in a press release on 30 April.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our promise that the shelf price you see on these items today is the most you\u2019ll pay for the next three months. We\u2019ll invest to absorb any extra costs that are agreed with suppliers on these products to make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Prof Jana Bowden, a marketing expert and chair of ethics at Macquarie University\u2019s business school, said raising prices after claiming they had been fixed was \u201cakin to not delivering on the everyday consumer\u2019s interpretation of a \u2018price freeze\u2019 promise\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow is the consumer expected to know what the start prices were before the campaign or even after the campaign started?\u201d Bowden said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo consumer walks into a supermarket with the insights of how the prices for the hundreds of products that they buy vary over a day, week, month or year \u2013 nor should they have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The analysis comes at a time of high scrutiny of the pricing tactics used by Woolworths<\/a> \u2013 and rival Coles<\/a> \u2013 after landmark court cases involving both companies.<\/p>\n

Woolworths is awaiting the verdict in the federal court case<\/a> brought against it by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), with the watchdog alleging the supermarket misled shoppers with effectively fake discounts on its \u201cPrices Dropped\u201d campaign.<\/p>\n

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Prices unfrozen<\/p>\n

During its price freeze period, Woolworths increased the retail price of 350g packs of RSPCA-approved chicken breast fillets by 33%.<\/p>\n

While a customer would have paid $9 for the chicken breast fillets on 29 April, the price increased to $12 on 5 May. It then alternated between $9 and $12 twice more during the \u201cPrice Freeze\u201d.<\/p>\n

But, after the promotional period ended, the price dropped to $4.20 on 17 August.<\/p>\n

Before the promotion, Woolworths\u2019 2kg bags of washed potatoes had consistently followed a routine high-low pricing pattern alternating between $6 and $8. This appears to have occurred during the promotional period, with CW Scanner data showing they cost customers $6 on 29 April, before the price went up to $8 on 6 May.<\/p>\n

The price of a 12-pack of the supermarket\u2019s own-brand fresh cinnamon donuts was increased from $3 to $3.50 on 6 May. It was reduced to $3 again on 18 August.<\/p>\n

Choice\u2019s senior campaigns and policy adviser, Bea Sherwood, said the advocacy group regularly heard from consumers who said they were confused by the pricing tickets they saw on supermarket shelves.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrices have changed so much over recent years and we\u2019re seeing them continuously increase, so having an understanding of what a regular shelf price is is not something we can expect consumers to stay on top of,\u201d Sherwood said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Woolworths or Coles say something is a standard price, we don\u2019t have the transparency to understand how they\u2019ve come to that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Woolworths raised prices for popular items \u2013 including a 33% mark up on chicken fillets \u2013 within days…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,85,46],"class_list":["post-611939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}