The Commission alleges that on six dates during June and October 2018, PAK’nSAVE Mangere charged a higher price at the checkout for one or more items than the promotional price displayed or advertised on its website and/or at the supermarket shelf.

Promotional pricing was advertised online via the PAK’nSAVE website (on a Mangere-specific webpage), and/or on price tickets and signs in-store.

The charges arose after Commission staff conducted mystery shops to check advertised prices against those charged at the till.

Alleged price discrepancies identified by Commission staff were raised with customer service staff at PAK’nSAVE Mangere immediately following the mystery shops. Commission staff then returned the next day and re-purchased the products for which they had identified price discrepancies, to check whether the price discrepancies were still occurring.

It is alleged that in some instances the discrepancies were still occurring.

As this matter is before the courts the Commission will make no further comment.

Background

The PAK’nSAVE brand is owned by Foodstuffs (N.Z.) Limited (Foodstuffs), which licences the operation of supermarkets through a franchise arrangement in which each PAK’nSAVE store is individually owned and operated. PAK’nSAVE Mangere is owned and operated by Kennedy’s Foodcentre (2003) Limited. 

Foodstuffs is jointly owned by Foodstuffs North Island Limited and Foodstuffs South Island Limited.