Labor Party to make Price Gouging Illegal.
Supermarket Price Gouging has been a major topic in the lead up to the 2025 Australian Federal Election.
What is Price Gouging?
Price gouging is a term for the practice of increasing the prices of goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair by some.
Supermarkets and Price Gouging.
Many people have complained that Woolworths and Coles are inflating their product prices at too high a rate.
The ACCC has spent the last 12 months investigating the major supermarkets, but found no evidence of Price Gouging from them.
However, the Labor party has decided to make Price Gouging illegal, in an effort to stop Price Gouging.
Australian Supermarket Profits.
Both Woolworths and Coles retain about the same net profit, which works out at about $2.50 from every $100 of Sales.
Woolworths Sales and Profits 2024.
Woolworths net profit was $1.7bn in 2024, from overall sales of $67.9bn.
This was a profit of $2.50 from every $100 spent.
If Woolworths became a non profit company, cutting out any possible price gouging, they could sell that $100 worth of goods for just $97.50.
Coles Sales and Profits 2024.
Coles net profit was $1.118bn in 2024, from overall sales of $43.68bn
This was a profit of $2.56 from every $100 spent.
If Coles became a non profit company, cutting out any possible price gouging, they could sell that $100 worth of goods for just $97.44.
Should Supermarkets Make a Profit?
If these supermarkets decided to stop making profits, the shareholders would probably want to sell, and maybe Coles and Woolworths would cease to operate.
Would prices be lower, or higher, in that event?
