Supermarkets and grocery retail in New Zealand - statistics & facts
Prominent grocery retailer Foodstuffs North Island was fined 3.25 million New Zealand dollars by the Wellington High Court on August 8, 2024, for anti-competitive land covenants with the objective of barring competitors. This comes at a time in which New Zealand seeks to spur greater competition in its supermarket sector, with the country’s first Grocery Commissioner appointed in July 2023 to hold the sector to account. The country has a long-standing supermarket duopoly, making it difficult for other retailers to enter the market and for consumers to choose from various store options to save on groceries as inflation continues to bite.
Through clearer grocery codes, unit pricing regulations, and prohibiting restrictive land use agreements, New Zealand hopes to shift some power from dominating brands to new players, smaller retailers, and green grocers. These rules also aim to promote fair conduct between retailers and suppliers, and to give shoppers more relief at the checkout by nipping in the bud supermarkets’ excess profits at the expense of elevated grocery prices. According to a 2024 survey, value for money, adept store layouts, product variety, and deals were among the key reasons to shop from a certain supermarket in New Zealand.
Market leader Foodstuffs operates several popular grocery stores countrywide, including discount chain PAK‘nSAVE, growing in appeal among consumers due to its low-cost items, New World, and Four Square. Its supermarket retail rival Woolworths New Zealand runs three grocery chains encompassing the recently rebranded Woolworths (formerly Countdown), SuperValue, and FreshChoice. Foodstuffs North Island, as well as its South Island counterpart, have enjoyed growing sales revenue over the past years, with a similar trend observable for Woolworths New Zealand’s food sales value.
Through clearer grocery codes, unit pricing regulations, and prohibiting restrictive land use agreements, New Zealand hopes to shift some power from dominating brands to new players, smaller retailers, and green grocers. These rules also aim to promote fair conduct between retailers and suppliers, and to give shoppers more relief at the checkout by nipping in the bud supermarkets’ excess profits at the expense of elevated grocery prices. According to a 2024 survey, value for money, adept store layouts, product variety, and deals were among the key reasons to shop from a certain supermarket in New Zealand.
New Zealand’s thriving in-store grocery retail landscape
In 2023, over four thousand supermarkets and grocery businesses were operating nationwide. Across New Zealand’s regions, Auckland, Canterbury, and Wellington recorded the largest grocery store networks. Since the second quarter of 2022, the country’s supermarket and grocery retail sales value has been increasing, with a sales value exceeding 6.7 billion New Zealand dollars reported in the first quarter of 2024. In-store grocery shopping remains more prevalent than online grocery purchasing; nonetheless, some shoppers prefer online channels to save time and avoid checkout queues.Which supermarkets make up New Zealand's two-headed grocery giant?
New Zealand is home to a concentrated grocery sector in which two main companies control the majority of the market, similarly to Australia’s supermarket industry. In New Zealand’s case, this duopoly consists of homegrown retailer Foodstuffs, with separate entities on the North Island and South Island, and Woolworths New Zealand, owned by Australian multinational company Woolworths Group.Market leader Foodstuffs operates several popular grocery stores countrywide, including discount chain PAK‘nSAVE, growing in appeal among consumers due to its low-cost items, New World, and Four Square. Its supermarket retail rival Woolworths New Zealand runs three grocery chains encompassing the recently rebranded Woolworths (formerly Countdown), SuperValue, and FreshChoice. Foodstuffs North Island, as well as its South Island counterpart, have enjoyed growing sales revenue over the past years, with a similar trend observable for Woolworths New Zealand’s food sales value.
