Australian Prime Minister: "Charging for Air is Unfair"
Mandatory Unit Price Display at Large Supermarkets
The Australian government has put a stop to the 'trick' of reducing product sizes while maintaining grocery prices. They have decided to strengthen the unit price labeling system to allow price comparisons based on weight or volume.
On the 3rd (local time), local media including Australian AAP news reported that the consumer group Choice recently pointed out that 'shrinkflation' is increasing, especially in private brand (PB) products sold at major Australian supermarkets Woolworths and Coles.
In response, the Australian government has agreed with major supermarkets to standardize capacity measurement units and improve the readability of unit price displays. Large fines will be imposed for violations.
When major supermarkets argued that "package size changes were requested by suppliers" and "we do not profit from this," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stepped in. In an interview with the media, Prime Minister Albanese criticized, "Have you ever seen a bag of potato chips with more air than contents?" and said, "It is unfair to pay money for air instead of the product."
Prime Minister Albanese further stated in a press release, "Consumers have the right to fair trading," adding, "Addressing shrinkflation through stronger price labeling and new sanctions is part of a plan to provide better deals for Australians."
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) also filed a lawsuit demanding hundreds of billions of won in fines against Woolworths and Coles, accusing them of deceiving consumers by charging higher prices than usual under the guise of discount promotions.
In South Korea, the so-called 'nitrogen snack' controversy has also sparked government regulation recently. On the 3rd, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced an administrative notice on the revision of the price labeling enforcement guidelines, which expands the unit price labeling system currently implemented mainly in offline large stores to large-scale online shopping malls, and will collect opinions until the 23rd.
The unit price labeling system is currently mandatory mainly in large supermarkets and voluntarily implemented by some online shopping malls. However, under this revision, large-scale online shopping malls with annual transaction amounts exceeding 10 trillion won will also be required to display unit prices. Additionally, the number of product categories subject to unit price labeling will increase from the current 84 to 114.
However, considering the guidance period and system preparation period for merchants within online shopping malls, a one-year grace period will be provided.
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