Free-market competition already controls us, claim ParknShop and Wellcome
ParknShop and Wellcome yesterday sought to defend themselves against claims that their prices had defied deflation and risen in the past year, as they rejected calls for fair-competition legislation.
The comments came after the Consumer Council released details of a report claiming to show that prices at the big two supermarkets and the CRC Shop chain, recorded over the first half of the year, had gone up by an average of 1.5 per cent compared with a year earlier. When discounts and promotions were taken into account, average prices had dropped by 0.8 per cent, the council survey found.
However, government figures show that deflation for June was running at 3.1 per cent, year on year.
The council recorded the prices of 114 products at Wellcome, ParknShop and CRC twice a month during the six-month survey, part of an ongoing study started in 1974.
Both Wellcome and ParknShop said yesterday the results did not accurately reflect their prices as most shoppers purchased discounted items and not all of their promotions were taken into account. They also suggested that the council change its methodologies for the survey.
'We're not complaining about the Consumer Council report,' said ParknShop chief executive officer Iwan Evans. 'But we do think we need to clarify what the situation is as far as what ParknShop prices are, and that's why we suggested that maybe, after nearly 30 years ... that we somehow change [the survey] to give consumers better insights.'
