CHOICE has made a submission to the consultation on Strengthening the Unit Pricing Code with new survey data that shows:

• a significant decline in the number of consumers who find unit pricing helpful, falling to 61% from 71% in 2022; 
• and an increasing number of consumers experiencing issues with unit pricing, undermining its effectiveness. In particular:
  • 38% reported issues with inconsistent units of measure for the same type of product, a significant increase from 28% in 2022; 
  • 38% reported unit pricing text that was difficult to read, an increase from 33% in 2022; 
  • 32% reported unit pricing was obstructed or covered, up from 30% in 2022; 
  • 22% reported inconsistent use of format and/or wording (e.g. "$4.27 / kg" vs "$4.27 per kg"), up from 16% in 2022; and 
  • 17% reported that the unit price was incorrect, up from 13% in 2022. 

CHOICE is calling on the government to make unit pricing clearer, more consistent and cover more products and retailers by improving unit pricing display consistency and accuracy, expanding the scope of the Code so that more consumers can benefit from it and allowing broader comparison between stores and online.

Related content

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• Misleading pricing – what is it, and what are your rights?
• New data reveals 44% of Australian shoppers surveyed are using unit pricing to reduce grocery spending

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