Commerce Commission files charges against two North Island Pak’nSave supermarkets

The Commerce Commission has filed charges against two North Island Pak'nSave stores over potential breaches of the Fair Trading Act. Photo / Mike Scott

The Commerce Commission has filed charges against two North Island Pak’nSave supermarkets over potential breaches of the Fair Trading Act.

The commission alleges Pak’nSave Silverdale in Auckland and Pak’nSave Mill St in Hamilton engaged in misleading specials and inaccurate pricing.

Competition, fair trading, and credit general manager Vanessa Horne said the specials and pricing may have breached the Fair Trading Act.

“These are the charges that were signalled at the end of 2024.”

A Foodstuffs North Island spokesperson said the stores take this matter seriously and have co-operated fully with the Commerce Commission.

“Foodstuffs North Island’s stores process millions of transactions a day, and while errors are relatively rare, we agree that any inaccurate pricing is unacceptable,” the spokesperson said.

“We work hard to ensure that the price customers see on shelf is always what they pay at the checkout, and that all specials offer clear savings.

“If a customer believes they haven’t been charged the correct price, we encourage them to let our store teams know so we can refund them directly, or they can contact our customer services team.”

In December the Herald reported Mill St store’s owners were Gladstone Retail Ltd, whose directors are Cher Walton and Hamish Walton, while the Silverdale store’s owner was Silverdale Food Warehouse Limited, whose director was Vinod Manu Bhaga.

In December last year, Commerce Commission deputy chairwoman Anne Callinan said supermarkets were on notice about accurate and clear pricing and specials, but the commission was not satisfied progress had been made.

“Shoppers should have confidence that the price they see will be the price they pay, and specials really are special,” she said.

“Pricing accuracy is a consumer right and an expectation of a competitive market. The major supermarkets are large, well-resourced businesses that should invest the time and effort to get pricing and promotions right.

“The charges we’re filing against major supermarket brands are to remind all supermarket operators that we expect them to fix ongoing pricing accuracy issues and implement better processes to prevent issues like these in the future.”

Last year, Foodstuffs was fined $3.25 million for imposing anti-competitive land covenants to try to block competition in the lower North Island.

The fine for Foodstuffs North Island was the biggest imposed for anti-competitive land covenants.

The Commerce Commission said the High Court at Wellington imposed the fine.

It said the co-operative’s actions were called “deliberate” and serious and showed an effort to hinder rivals from opening new stores or expanding existing ones in Wellington’s Newton and Petone as well as in south Napier’s Tamatea.

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