Oz Gocery Prices from ACNielsen

Packaged grocery inflation in Australia settled at a fairly benign 3.5 percent in March 2002, down from 5 percent at the end of 2001.This is according to the latest findings from a new ACNielsen study into grocery prices down under.

The recent price examination has produced two inflation measures for the country: one based on the average price paid (both regular and promotional prices), and one based on the regular shelf price only. Nielsen points out that the change in regular shelf price (+4.5%) remains higher than the change in average price (+3.5%). This suggests an increase in promotional activity and a higher proportion of sales made at a discount.

'The drop to 3.5 percent for the first three months of 2002 is a positive indicator for the official measure of underlying inflation due for release by the ABS on 24 April - even though packaged grocery products account for less than 10 percent of the products and services covered by the ABS measure,' commented Anton van den Berg, marketing director of ACNielsen Retail Measurement Services, Australia.

'This is especially true in packaged food categories, as well as across most cold beverage categories. The latter suffered from poor sales in a cool summer. Increased promotional activity may have been used to stimulate sales,' Mr van den Berg added. 'Inflation in the dairy sector is running at 9% across all categories, except fresh milk. Anecdotal evidence suggests that low supplies may have resulted in higher prices.'

The ACNielsen study tracked price changes for a fixed basket of items across 95 Australian product categories, including Dry Grocery, Dairy, Drinks, Snacks, Frozen, Household and Health & Beauty. The top-50 SKUs by volume sales over the past 3 years were selected, except in small categories where the top-20 was used.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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