Source: Consumer NZ
With 2025 marking the first Christmas when supermarkets must show unit pricing in-store and on their websites, Consumer NZ is urging shoppers to pause and check out the unit prices when they’re doing their big festive shop.
Consumer NZ spokesperson Gemma Rasmussen says the festive season puts pressure on household budgets, making it even more important to check you’re getting the best deal.
“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.”
In a recent Consumer NZ survey, 64% of New Zealanders said unit pricing had helped them save money.
“Grocery shopping can be stressful and expensive at the best of times. 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,” says Rasmussen.
“Once unit pricing becomes part of your shopping routine, you’ll wonder how you ever shopped without it.”
How unit pricing can help this silly season
Consumer’s surveying found that the most common scenario where people said unit pricing helped them was when a product was on special.
“Unit pricing is helping shoppers look past the promotion and check whether another product is better value,” says Rasmussen.
The next most common scenario it was proving helpful with was when products come in different pack sizes.
“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.”
Unit pricing in action
To demonstrate how unit pricing can lead to savings, Consumer checked out the cost of creating a basic pavlova at Rasmussen’s local supermarket. The shopping list included eggs, caster sugar, vanilla extract, cornflour and cream.
“We compared the cost of buying the cheapest and then the cheapest unit price option for each item.
“The cheapest overall picks cost a total of $18.61 and would have been enough to make one pavlova with a small amount of leftover sugar and plenty of vanilla extract and cornflour to spare.
“When we went for the cheapest unit price items, we would have spent more in total, at $37.37, but we would have bought enough produce to make three pavlovas. This version equated to a cost of just under $12.50 per pavlova, with 2 eggs, sugar, cream, cornflour and vanilla to spare.”
Consumer acknowledges that many New Zealanders won’t be able to afford the extra cost, but those who can pay for the larger items stand to make savings overall.
Notes
In partnership with the Commerce Commission, Consumer NZ undertook two nationally representative surveys on unit pricing in July and October 2025.
