Consumer NZ is encouraging shoppers to take a moment to review unit prices during their big festive shopping.
Consumer NZ spokesperson Gemma Rasmussen explains that since the festive season strains household budgets, it’s especially important to ensure you’re securing the best deal.
This year marks the first Christmas that supermarkets are required to display unit pricing both in-store and on their websites.
“We know the supermarkets will be filled with specials like multi-buy deals and member prices as we get closer to the big day – using unit pricing can help you cut through the promotions and figure out the best value,” Rasmussen said.
A recent Consumer NZ survey found that 64% of New Zealanders reported saving money thanks to unit pricing.
“Unit pricing is an easy way to see through all the different brands, quantities and promotional chaos. So, instead of just grabbing the big container of custard, thinking it’s better value, you can check that it really is. You might find you’re paying less per 100g if you buy the smaller container,” Rasmussen said.
Consumer NZ said the most frequent situation where people said unit pricing was helpful occurred when a product was on sale.
“Unit pricing is helping shoppers look past the promotion and check whether another product is better value.”
The next most common situation where unit pricing proved useful was when products were available in different pack sizes.
Rasmussen cited an example.
“If you need eggs for whipping up the pavlova, unit pricing will make it easy to see what you’re paying for each egg regardless of whether you’re comparing 6, 10, 12 or 18 packs.”