The chips are down: supermarkets off to shaky start

Supermarket giants have an uncomfortable first day under the regulator's gaze. (Image:Getty)

Thu, 21 Oct 2021

The first day of the Commerce Commission’s inquiry into supermarket competition didn’t go very well for the supermarket owners.They relied far too much on the clever ministrations of a consultant economist instead of actually providing the evidence that commissioner John Small kept asking for, politely and insistently, but without much effect.His basic question: you have 80% of the market and it hasn’t changed much. How come?The answers: that price parity between the big players demonstrates prices are as low as they can be an...

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