Will Duff launches New Zealand grocery price-comparison app

Will Duff, a commercial dairy farmer on the Taieri Plain near Dunedin, developed CheckMyTrolley after returning to New Zealand from a decade overseas. The free mobile application is designed to help households compare supermarket prices and plan online grocery purchases.

Users can create personalised shopping lists and view the total price of the same basket at different supermarket chains. The application compares current public pricing information rather than requiring shoppers to check each retailer’s website separately.

Duff worked with software developers to build the list-management and price-checking system. He said the idea followed his observation that food prices had become a major financial concern for New Zealand consumers and that manually comparing competing supermarket banners was difficult for working families.

CheckMyTrolley joins existing grocery comparison services, including Grocer and Grosave. Research by Consumer NZ cited in the report found that food costs had overtaken rent and utility bills as the leading financial concern for households. The report also described increased use of online shopping lists, store brands and comparisons between supermarket chains.

Pricing data show differing strategies across New Zealand’s concentrated supermarket market. Chains regularly change promotions on processed products, while the prices of fresh produce vary with seasonal supply. Initial user reports cited by the publication suggested that comparing the total cost of a basket could save a household between $100 and $150 a month. The application also displays differences in the prices of identical stock-keeping units at nearby stores.

Major supermarket operators had not restricted the public collection of pricing data when the application launched. Its developers planned to add tools for transferring a completed basket directly to an online retailer and placing orders automatically. The report was sourced from 1News.